World COPD Day – “Short of Breath, Think COPD” – Global Initiative for Asthma

On World COPD Day, The Forum of International Respiratory Societies (FIRS) Issues Call to Action: “Short of Breath, Think COPD” 

For Immediate Release 

In assist of World COPD Day on November 19, the Forum of International Respiratory Societies (FIRS) is looking consideration to the pressing want for early and correct prognosis of power obstructive pulmonary illness (COPD), highlighting this 12 months’s theme: “Short of Breath, Think COPD.” 

COPD is a preventable and treatable situation characterised by breathlessness, power cough, and sputum manufacturing. It claims roughly three million lives globally annually—significantly in low-resource nations—and its prevalence is predicted to rise because of growing old populations and ongoing publicity to danger components resembling tobacco smoke and air air pollution. 

Although COPD is a standard, preventable, and treatable illness, in depth under-diagnosis, misdiagnosis, and late-diagnosis result in sufferers receiving no remedy, incorrect remedy, or much less efficient remedy. Studies from internationally counsel that as much as 70% of adults with COPD stay undiagnosed, with charges even greater in low and middle-income nations.(1,2,3) Undiagnosed COPD can result in better symptom burden, poor high quality of life, impaired work productiveness, and poorer general basic well being standing.(4) 

There are many components that may result in inappropriate or missed prognosis, together with patient-, healthcare system-, and provider-related components. Patients might not acknowledge or report signs precisely, healthcare methods might not have sources to adequately practice employees in respiratory well being, or suppliers might have a poor understanding of COPD diagnostic standards.  

It’s essential for well being suppliers to search for the next danger components: 

• Exposure to danger components (tobacco smoke, family and outside air pollutions, occupational exposures)

• Prematurity and youth drawback components

Accurate and well timed prognosis of COPD can enhance high quality of life and well being outcomes. Based on at the moment obtainable proof, GOLD advocates for lively case discovering, together with performing spirometry in people with signs and/or danger components.(5)  

Although there may be at the moment no treatment for COPD, steps to assist enhance prognosis can have a constructive affect on future well being. Patients and households can assist advocate for extra analysis and higher entry to care, together with routine spirometry screenings and telehealth entry for sufferers in distant settings.  In addition, suppliers and coverage makers can work collectively to enhance entry to spirometry and advocate for its use as a basic well being marker in all levels of life. Health methods can work to extend tutorial coaching packages specializing in respiratory well being, in addition to enhance coaching in COPD diagnostic standards, together with the use and interpretation of spirometry.  

Learn extra within the 2026 GOLD Report: GLOBAL STRATEGY FOR THE DIAGNOSIS, MANAGEMENT, AND PREENTION OF CHRONIC OBSTRUCTIVE PULMONARY DISEASE (2026 REPORT). 

World COPD Day World COPD Day is an annual international initiative run by the Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD), a member of the Forum of International Respiratory Societies (FIRS). The purpose of World COPD Day is to lift consciousness and current new information and therapeutic methods for COPD worldwide.  The twenty third annual World COPD Day will happen on November 19, 2025.   

Be a part of the worldwide effort to enhance the lives of individuals with COPD. Join World COPD Day occasions organized by GOLD and FIRS. Find out extra here. 

Chronic obstructive pulmonary illness (COPD) is a preventable and treatable illness inflicting breathlessness, power sputum manufacturing, and cough. It’s a number one international killer, particularly prevalent in low-resource nations. Annually, COPD claims three million lives worldwide, a quantity projected to rise because of growing old populations and continued publicity to danger components like tobacco smoke. While tobacco smoke is a main danger issue, COPD’s complicated etiology includes genetic and environmental components, starting in utero and progressing all through life. 

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About the Forum of International Respiratory Societies (FIRS) 

The Forum of International Respiratory Societies (FIRS) is an organisation comprised of the world’s main worldwide respiratory societies working collectively to enhance lung well being globally: American College of Chest Physicians (CHEST), American Thoracic Society (ATS), Asian Pacific Society of Respirology (APSR), Asociación Latino Americana De Tórax (ALAT), European Respiratory Society (ERS), International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Diseases (The Union), Pan African Thoracic Society (PATS), Global Initiative for Asthma (GINA), and the Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD).  

The purpose of FIRS is to unify and improve efforts to enhance lung well being via the mixed work of its greater than 70,000 members globally. 

For extra details about FIRS please contact Helen Dugdale at helen.dugdale@firsnet.org.  

1. Lytras T, Kogevinas M, Kromhout H, et al. Occupational exposures and 20-year incidence of COPD: the European Community Respiratory Health Survey. Thorax 2018; 73(11): 1008-15 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29574416.

1. Lamprecht B, Soriano JB, Studnicka M, et al. Determinants of Underdiagnosis of COPD in National and International Surveys. Chest 2015; 148(4): 971-85

1. Martinez CH, Mannino DM, Jaimes FA, et al. Undiagnosed Obstructive Lung Disease within the United States. Associated Factors and Long-term Mortality. Annals of the American Thoracic Society 2015; 12(12): 1788-95

1. Labonté LE, Tan WC, Li PZ, et al. Undiagnosed Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Contributes to the Burden of Health Care Use. Data from the CanCOLD Study. American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine 2016; 194(3): 285-98

1. Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD). Global Strategy for Prevention, Diagnosis and Management of COPD: 2026 Report. 2026 GOLD Report and Pocket Guide – Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease – GOLD