Clinical and functional characteristics of COPD according to gender Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) prevalence is continuously rising in females. In addition, mortality due to COPD is higher in females, suggesting that women may develop a more severe disease than males. Our aim was to study possible differences in disease severity according to gender in 95 COPD patients (38 females) consecutively recruited to participate in a follow up protocol. Severity of COPD was assessed by FEV 1 , BODE index and the impairment of quality of life was measured with the Saint George's respiratory questionnaire (SGRQ) and the chronic respiratory questionnaire (CRQ). We found no differences according to gender in any of the severity indices studied. However, female smoked significantly less than males (35.5 ± 19.4 versus 45.7 ± 21 pack-year; p = 0.02). Our results suggest that women are more susceptible to develop COPD than men, without differences in disease severity.