PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - David de la Rosa AU - Antonia Ocanya AU - Pilar Martínez AU - Raul Bonich AU - Dolores Alvarez AU - Eva Calvo AU - Emma Albia TI - Use of GOLD staging as a guide for treating COPD patients in primary care DP - 2011 Sep 01 TA - European Respiratory Journal PG - p4627 VI - 38 IP - Suppl 55 4099 - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/38/Suppl_55/p4627.short 4100 - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/38/Suppl_55/p4627.full SO - Eur Respir J2011 Sep 01; 38 AB - Introduction: The best strategies to reduce the costs derived from COPD are early diagnosis and adequate managing in initial phases. Our aim was to evaluate the adequacy of COPD treatment according to GOLD guidelines, in Primary Care (PC) patients.Design & methods: Descriptive, transverse, multicentre study in 5 PC centers. Computerized clinical histories of patients with COPD diagnosis code were revised.We recorded spirometric data and current treatment of each patient. We evaluated spirometric confirmation of COPD, GOLD stage and adequacy of treatment according to GOLD.Results: We analyzed 1220 patients (71.5% men), mean age 69.8±13 years. 37.5% never smokers.Rates of spirometry performance and spirometric confirmation of COPD were low (46.3% and 46% respectively). Adequacy of treatment to GOLD stage was 61.4%, and increased with severity of the disease (p<0.05).In Gold 2, only 15.5% were using exclusively bronchodilators (BD). 40.4% were receiving inhaled steroids (IS) alone or in association to BD. 31.8% were taking “other” treatments (mucolytics, montelukast, oral steroids). In Gold 3, 9.9% of patients were taking exclusively BD, 18.3% realized treatment with 2 BD associated to IS and 46.5% were using other treatments.Conclusions: In many of the patients coded as COPD in PC, a spirometry lacks.The great proportion of never smokers raises doubts about correct codification.Prescription of IS and not inhaled treatments is too high in Gold 2.