The ATS and ERS commit to undertake actions that will improve access to and delivery of PR services for suitable patients. They call on their members and other health professional societies, payers, patients, and patient advocacy groups to join in this commitment.

Patients with COPD fall frequently. Standard clinical balance measures discriminate self-reported fallers from non-fallers. These observations draw attention to an important secondary impairment in COPD.

Background: People with known risk factors for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) are important targets for screening and early intervention. We sought to measure the prevalence of COPD among such individuals visiting a primary care practitioner for any reason. We also evaluated the accuracy of prior diagnosis or nondiagnosis of COPD and identified associated clinical characteristics. Methods:We recruited patients from three primary care sites who were 40 years or older and had a smoking history of at least 20 pack-years. Participants were asked about respiratory symptoms and underwent postbronchodilator spirometry. COPD was defined as a ratio of forced expiratory volume in the first second of expiration to forced vital capacity (FEV 1 /FVC) of less than 0.7 and an FEV 1 of less than 80% predicted. Results:Of the 1459 patients who met the study criteria, 1003 (68.7%) completed spirometry testing. Of these, 208 were found to have COPD, for a prevalence of 20.7% (95% confidence interval 18.3%-23.4%). Of the 205 participants with COPD who completed the interview about respiratory symptoms before spirometry, only 67 (32.7%) were aware of their diagnosis before the study. Compared with patients in whom COPD had been correctly diagnosed before the study, those in whom COPD had been overdiagnosed or undiagnosed were similar in terms of age, sex, current smoking status and number of visits to a primary care practitioner be cause of a respiratory problem.Interpretation: Among adult patients visiting a primary care practitioner, as many as one in five with known risk factors met spirometric criteria for COPD. Underdiagnosis of COPD was frequent, which suggests a need for greater screening of at-risk individuals. Knowledge of the prevalence of COPD will help plan strategies for disease management. AbstractPreviously published at www.cmaj.ca

Although feelings of anxiety and depression are common in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), estimates of their prevalence vary considerably. This probably reflects the variety of scales and methods used to measure such symptoms. Regardless of whether anxiety and depression are considered separately or as a single construct, their impact on COPD patients is important.A heightened experience of dyspnoea is likely to be a contributing factor to anxiety. Feelings of depression may be precipitated by the loss and grief associated with the disability of COPD. Smoking has been associated with nicotine addiction, and the factors that contribute to smoking may also predispose to anxiety and depressive disorders.Randomised controlled trials indicate that exercise training and carefully selected pharmacological therapy are often effective in ameliorating anxiety and depression. Most medical illnesses are influenced by the psychological responses and coping mechanisms that patients use. However, anxiety and depression are associated with dyspnoea, fatigue and altered sleep, all of which also occur in COPD.An understanding of the psychological history and coping mechanisms of patients and the role of anxiety and depressive reactions to illness may enable clinicians to reduce these symptoms and improve quality of life among patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.KEYWORDS: Anxiety, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, depression C hronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is characterised by airflow obstruction that is not fully reversible [1]. In addition to the primary pulmonary pathology, the impact of secondary skeletal muscle dysfunction on exercise capacity and survival is well established [2,3]. Psychological impairments, ranging from feelings of depression and anxiety to full diagnostic mental disorders, although prevalent in this population, have received less interest. As COPD is incurable, therapeutic interventions aim to optimise function and slow disease progression [4]. Attention has focused predominantly on the effectiveness of strategies such as smoking cessation [5], longterm oxygen therapy (LTOT) [6,7], influenza vaccines [8], respiratory-specific pharmacological management [9], surgical options [10], conditioning of the peripheral muscles with graduated exercise training [11] and chronic disease selfmanagement strategies [12].Despite the prevalence of depression and anxiety and their impact on the morbidity associated with COPD, these psychological consequences of the disease are rarely addressed, at least in the respiratory medicine community. The purpose of the present review is to raise awareness among pulmonologists, general practitioners and allied health professionals to the secondary psychological impairment associated with COPD. Although anxiety and depression often coexist, they represent separate constructs [13]. Broader reviews of the psychological characteristics of patients with COPD are available [14]. ANXIETY Classification and diagnostic cr...

Background Decreased exercise capacity and impairments in health-related quality of life (HRQoL) are common in people following lung resection for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Exercise training has been demonstrated to confer gains in exercise capacity and HRQoL for people with a range of chronic conditions, including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and heart failure, as well as in people with cancers such as prostate and breast cancer. A programme of exercise training for people following lung resection for NSCLC may confer important gains in these outcomes. To date, evidence of its efficacy in this population is unclear. Exercise training undertaken by people within 12 months of lung resection for non-small cell lung cancer (Review)