Authors’ reply
- University Hospital Maastricht, Maastricht, The Netherlands
- Dr A M W J Schols, PO Box 5800, Maastricht, The Netherlands; a.schols{at}pul.unimaas.nl
- Accepted 16 February 2009
We welcome the comments of van den Bemt et al regarding our review on obesity and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Their careful analysis of a large Dutch primary care population of COPD provides further evidence for an increased prevalence of obesity in patients with early-stage COPD. According to their data, about 17% of the patients in GOLD (Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease) stage II are obese vs 11% in a healthy Dutch population.1 The prevalence of a body mass index …
