[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":3,"doc-seo-460782-105":59,"doc-detail-460782-en":130},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",[7,13,18,23,28,33,38,43,48,51,55],{"id":8,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":10,"show_sort_weight":11,"slug":12},1,"Document","Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":14,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":15,"show_sort_weight":16,"slug":17},2,"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":19,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":20,"show_sort_weight":21,"slug":22},4,"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":24,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":25,"show_sort_weight":26,"slug":27},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":29,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":30,"show_sort_weight":31,"slug":32},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":34,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":35,"show_sort_weight":36,"slug":37},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":39,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":40,"show_sort_weight":41,"slug":42},8,"Research & Report",30,"research-report",{"id":44,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":45,"show_sort_weight":46,"slug":47},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":46,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":49,"show_sort_weight":46,"slug":50},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":52,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":53,"show_sort_weight":52,"slug":54},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":56,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":57,"show_sort_weight":24,"slug":58},19,"General","general",{"code":4,"msg":60,"data":61},"ok",{"site_id":62,"language":63,"slug":64,"title":65,"keywords":66,"description":67,"schema_data":68,"social_meta":123,"head_meta":125,"extra_data":127,"updated_unix":129},105,"en","early-diagnosis-of-copd-how-can-we-do-better","Early Diagnosis of COPD - How Can we Do Better?","","Undiagnosed COPD remains a major global health problem, with studies reporting that most adults with COPD are not diagnosed until disease is advanced. The paper reviews reasons for underdiagnosis and explains why current healthcare pathways often miss earlier identification. It discusses case-finding in at-risk individuals using symptom questionnaires and objective tools such as peak expiratory flow monitors or micro-spirometers, and evaluates practical implementation approaches including primary care tools and community-based strategies.",{"@graph":69,"@context":122},[70,84,105],{"@type":71,"itemListElement":72},"BreadcrumbList",[73,77,79,82],{"item":74,"name":75,"@type":76,"position":8},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":78,"name":9,"@type":76,"position":14},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/",{"item":80,"name":35,"@type":76,"position":81},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/healthcare/",3,{"item":83,"name":65,"@type":76,"position":19},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/early-diagnosis-of-copd-how-can-we-do-better/460782/",{"url":83,"name":65,"@type":85,"image":86,"author":91,"headline":65,"publisher":94,"fileFormat":97,"inLanguage":63,"description":67,"dateModified":98,"datePublished":99,"encodingFormat":97,"isAccessibleForFree":100,"interactionStatistic":101},"DigitalDocument",{"url":87,"@type":88,"width":89,"height":90},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/early-diagnosis-of-copd-how-can-we-do-better/460782.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":92,"@type":93},"Margaret","Person",{"url":74,"name":95,"@type":96},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-11-08","2026-09-30",true,{"@type":102,"interactionType":103,"userInteractionCount":14},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":104},"ViewAction",{"@type":106,"mainEntity":107},"FAQPage",[108,114,118],{"name":109,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":111},"What proportion of adults with COPD remain undiagnosed, according to global studies?","Question",{"text":112,"@type":113},"Studies summarized in the text indicate that as many as 70% of adults with COPD remain undiagnosed, and a multinational study reported 81.4% of COPD cases were undiagnosed.","Answer",{"name":115,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":116},"How does case-finding aim to enable earlier COPD diagnosis?",{"text":117,"@type":113},"Case-finding assesses at-risk individuals with unexplained respiratory symptoms using symptom questionnaires and may use peak expiratory flow monitors or micro-spirometers to identify those who would benefit from diagnostic spirometry.",{"name":119,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":120},"What did the CAPTURE tool trial find in primary care settings?",{"text":121,"@type":113},"In a cluster-randomised trial, using CAPTURE in primary care did not lead practitioners to order more spirometry or make more COPD diagnoses than usual care, and patients did not report better health status or fewer urgent respiratory visits.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":83,"og:type":124,"og:title":65,"og:site_name":95,"og:description":67},"article",{"robots":126,"canonical":83},"index,follow",{"doc_id":128,"site_id":62},460782,1790759529,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":131},{"doc_id":128,"user_id":132,"nickname":92,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":34,"category_name":35,"doc_title":65,"doc_description":67,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":14,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":8,"is_downloadable":8,"audit_status":8,"page_count":14,"language":139,"language_code":63,"site_id":62,"html_lang":63,"table_of_contents":140,"faqs":141,"seo_title":142,"seo_description":67,"update_tm":129,"read_time":24,"preview_page_count":4},137451207643,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_3d24733baf745e90a7e4bdd5f77d97b2","Respirology  \nEarly Diagnosis of COPD—How Can we Do Better?  \nShawn D. Aaron  \nThe Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontaria, Canada Correspondence: Shawn D. Aaron ([saaron@ohri.ca](saaron@ohri.ca))  \nReceived: 18 September 2025 | Revised: 20 October 2025 | Accepted: 20 October 2025  \nFunding: The author received no specific funding for this work.  \nKeywords: COPD | diagnosis | epidemiology  \nUndiagnosed COPD is a major global health problem. Studies from across the world suggest that as many as 70% of adults with COPD remain undiagnosed [1] . A collaborative study assessed the prevalence of undiagnosed COPD in 27 countries and found COPD in 2995 of 30,874 adult participants (9.7%); of these 81.4% of cases were undiagnosed [2] . The myriad reasons for underdiagnosis of COPD are highlighted in Table 1.  \nOur current healthcare system generally fails many patients with COPD, since most remain undiagnosed until they develop moderate or severe airflow obstruction, and generally they present with significant disability, or an acute exacerbation, at the time of first diagnosis [3] . Consequently, most patients diagnosed with COPD in clinical practice are only recognised when their disease is already relatively advanced, and therapy is less effective. As has been shown for lung cancer detection in at-risk subjects [4], screening or case-finding are potential strategies to dramatically change the paradigm and identify patients earlier.  \nEarly diagnosis of COPD can be potentially achieved by casefinding. Case-finding involves assessment of at-risk individuals who present with unexplained respiratory symptoms. Casefinding uses symptom questionnaires and may also make use of peak expiratory flow monitors or micro-spirometers, to identify symptomatic individuals, or people at particularly high risk for COPD, who would benefit from diagnostic spirometry [5] . Casefinding facilitates earlier identification of disease and can allow clinicians to direct non-pharmacologic and pharmacologic treatments to these individuals.  \nHow should we try to find individuals with undiagnosed COPD? One obvious approach would be to try to find them in primary  \ncare practices. There are several potential problems with this approach. Studies of patients with undiagnosed COPD and asthma suggest that many individuals with undiagnosed COPDtend to discount their symptoms, and they do not complain to their primary care practitioners about their respiratory symptoms [6] . Similarly, many individuals with undiagnosed COPD do not have family doctors, or they may see their family doctors very infrequently, and these individuals may be missed if casefinding is confined to primary care practices [6] .  \nA recent cluster-randomised clinical trial tried to operationalise COPD case-finding in primary care offices using the CAPTURE case-finding tool [7]. Unfortunately, the study found that the use of the CAPTURE tool in primary care did not influence practitioners to order more spirometry, or make more diagnoses of COPD, compared to usual care. Furthermore, patients within the primary care practices randomised to the CAPTURE intervention did not report better health status, or experience fewer urgent visits for respiratory illness, compared to those within practices randomised to usual care. The investigators of the CAPTURE study pointed out that the results of the CAPTURE questionnaire were shared with clinical staff after the completion of the patient visit, and that the majority of patient visits were for reasons unrelated to respiratory illness [7] . In this context, it is not surprising that busy primary care practitioners therefore failed to act on the results of the CAPTURE questionnaire.  \nAnother approach to find individuals with undiagnosed COPD is to find them within their homes and communities. The Undiagnosed COPD and Asthma in the Population (UCAP) Study was a multicenter, study that randomly dialed cellphones and landlines acro","cbCaiegBOArtOz9u","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaiegBOArtOz9u","pdf",170295,"English","# Early Diagnosis of COPD—How Can we Do Better?\n## Burden of Undiagnosed COPD\n## Why Current Care Misses Early Disease\n## Case-Finding: Approach and Tools\n## Finding Undiagnosed COPD in Primary Care\n## Limitations of CAPTURE in Primary Care\n## Home and Community Approaches","[{\"question\":\"What proportion of adults with COPD remain undiagnosed, according to global studies?\",\"answer\":\"Studies summarized in the text indicate that as many as 70% of adults with COPD remain undiagnosed, and a multinational study reported 81.4% of COPD cases were undiagnosed.\"},{\"question\":\"How does case-finding aim to enable earlier COPD diagnosis?\",\"answer\":\"Case-finding assesses at-risk individuals with unexplained respiratory symptoms using symptom questionnaires and may use peak expiratory flow monitors or micro-spirometers to identify those who would benefit from diagnostic spirometry.\"},{\"question\":\"What did the CAPTURE tool trial find in primary care settings?\",\"answer\":\"In a cluster-randomised trial, using CAPTURE in primary care did not lead practitioners to order more spirometry or make more COPD diagnoses than usual care, and patients did not report better health status or fewer urgent respiratory visits.\"}]","Early Diagnosis of COPD - How Can we Do Better? | PDF"]