TY - JOUR T1 - COPD: algorithms and clinical management JF - European Respiratory Journal JO - Eur Respir J DO - 10.1183/13993003.01733-2017 VL - 50 IS - 5 SP - 1701733 AU - Rosa Faner AU - Alvar Agustí Y1 - 2017/11/01 UR - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/50/5/1701733.abstract N2 - When you are invited to write an Editorial on a given paper, you are expected to provide a strong personal opinion that will both attract the readers' interest whilst giving food for thought. Here, we have been asked to try to achieve both goals with respect to the paper by Burgel et al. [1] on the use of a simple algorithm for the identification of clinical chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) phenotypes published in this same issue of the European Respiratory Journal (ERJ).Can algorithms help the practicing clinician to prescribe the best treatment? http://ow.ly/44yF30fwCc9 ER -