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Correspondence
Authors' response: ‘What's nice about the new NICE guideline?’
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  1. John O'Reilly1,
  2. Michael Rudolf2
  1. 1Aintree University Hospital NHS Trust, Liverpool, UK
  2. 2Ealing Hospital NHS Trust, London, UK
  1. Correspondence to John O'Reilly, Consultant Physician, Aintree University Hospital NHS Trust, Lower Lane, Liverpool L9 7AL, UK; john.oreilly{at}aintree.nhs.uk

https://doi.org/10.1136/thoraxjnl-2011-200181

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    We thank the correspondents for these kind and helpful comments.1 In adopting the Global Initiative on Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) classification of severity of airflow obstruction, the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) guideline update has introduced consistency with international guidelines including those of the American Thoracic Society and the European Respiratory Society. The NICE guidelines note that this classification relates specifically to degrees of airflow obstruction which are arbitrary and may not be closely related to degrees of clinical severity in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).2 The current use of the term ‘severe’ for airflow obstruction with forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1)<50% in place of ‘moderate’ (NICE 2004) may also help to underline the potentially serious nature of the lung function …

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