Abstract
Background: Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) is a common, preventable and treatable disease that is characterized by persistent respiratory symptoms and airflow limitation. It should be considered in any patient who has dyspnoea, chronic cough or sputum production and/or a history of exposure to risk factors for the disease.
Assessment by ABCD classification in GOLD 2011 is useful in the management of the disease. This study aims to find out the number and percentage of patients in each group of COPD among patients who visited the pulmonary medicine outpatient department of a tertiary care center in South Kerala during a 1 year period.
Methods: 112 COPD patients who attended the outpatient department were grouped into A,B,C and D according to GOLD classification 2011. The percentage in each group was also calculated.
Results: After applying the 'ABCD' classification to the 112 COPD patients, 14 patients were in A group, 26 patients were in B group, 40 patients were in C group and 32 patients were in D group.
Conclusion: The choice of medications in COPD differs for each group. There is relatively low prevalence in group A patients. 35.7% of COPD patients in this study belonged to A or B, in whom inhaled corticosteroids are indicated.
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DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.18535/jmscr/v5i7.11
