The Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) has released new standards for the diagnosis, management and prevention of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). The latest recommendations emphasize the importance of proper diagnosis, assessment of the disease’s severity, and the need for a better understanding of co-morbidities to improve treatment of disease.The GOLD report is updated annually online, but this is the first “complete makeover” since its initial publication in 2002. “This is an absolutely up-to-date summary of all the available evidence on the diagnosis, management and prevention of COPD,” said Klaus Rabe, M.D., Ph.D., lead author of the report.
