ABSTRACT
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is an enormous public health problem and of growing importance due to its high prevalence, elevated morbimortality, and socioeconomic costs. Many Spanish epidemiological studies report a prevalence of 10% of the adult population, with its growth appearing to have stabilised. Nevertheless, over 75% of cases are still underdiagnosed. The diagnosis of mild and moderate obstruction is associated with a higher survival and lower costs (14 years and 9,730) compared to 10 years survival and 43,785 of patients diagnosed in the severe obstruction phase. COPD was the fourth cause of death in Spain in 2011, although the adjusted mortality rates have decreased more than 20% in the last decade, particularly in males. Patients with advanced COPD die from it, but patients with mild or moderate COPD die due to cardiovascular diseases or cancer (mainly of the lung). It is estimated that the annual cost of the disease is around 3,000 million Euros. These increase with the spirometric severity, and is mainly associated with exacerbations (almost 60% of the direct costs). Comorbidity, that is the presence of diseases that coexist with the studied disease, is higher in patients with COPD than in the general population and affects health results.
