The Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a pathology with a high prevalence. It affects one in ten people between 40 and 80 years old.
We talk about a course pathology chronic and progressive which is closely related to smoking, and which has a high rate of infradiagnostic.
As explained by the Spanish Society of Internal Medicine (SEMI), the early diagnostic is key to “facilitate treatment (generally, with inhaled therapy) and avoid complications in the long term.”
However, one of the most cost-effective strategies in preventive health is vaccination since it is “particularly beneficial” in these patients because:
It helps prevent exacerbations (increased duration of symptoms).
It entails a better morbidity and mortality (rate of deaths from disease in a population and at a given time).
With a moderate exacerbation, the risk of hospitalization is 21%.
Flu and pneumococcus vaccines are recommended for all COPD patients, as advised by Dr. Ángel Nieto Sánchez from the Internal Medicine Service of the San Carlos Clinical Hospital in Madrid.
Additionally, it is recommended to consider vaccination against Bordeaux Pertussis (whooping cough) for COPD patients who have not been vaccinated in their adolescence. For people over 50 years old, vaccination is highly effective compared to Herpes zoster, given the increased risk.
COPD has a high demand for care (10-12%) of medical consultations in Primary A and 5-7% consultations in Internal Medicine. It is the third cause of death in the world.
The profile of the patient with COPD is an elderly middle-aged man, sometimes still a smoker, with chronic respiratory symptoms (cough, dyspnea, sputum, exacerbations) with limitation of activity, frequent associated comorbidity, and who requires specific preventive and therapeutic measures often individualized.
Therapy with bronchodilators is the most used treatment in patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). The latest GOLD guidelines for the management of COPD recommend treatment with double bronchodilation in symptomatic patients or those with previous admissions for COPD exacerbations.
Among the main challenges in the management and approach of the pathology are greater diagnostic precision and defined therapeutic criteria both in the stable phase and in exacerbations. There is also a need to improve the lack of coordination in care, the need for early action, unstable public health plans, adherence to Clinical Practice Guidelines, and education of the population and patients about the pathology.