Standards for the diagnosis and treatment of patients with COPD: a summary of the ATS/ERS position paper

This summary presents an overview of the entire document or the health practitioner, which is readily available online (www.copd-ats-ers, www.ersnet.org and www.thoracic.org). This summary does not include any reference to the patient document, which, due to its inherent characteristics, cannot be presented in a conventional format. The readers are encouraged to visit the website to access both full documents. The committee that developed this document fully understands that the field is rapidly changing and that individual components of this document need to be updated periodically as the need arises. However, the modular and flexible design allows for this to occur easier than ever before. The challenge for the future is to develop mechanisms to permit the updated flow of valid scientific information to reach all who need it. © ERS Journals Ltd 2004.