Abstract
There is increasing interest on the origins of COPD, as it is envisaged that preventive efforts and treatment can modify its clinical course. The concept of early COPD is not new, but it has recently regained interest, given new population data, recent cellular and molecular advances, and insights from clinical trials. To date, many knowledge gaps in the nature of early COPD still exist, mainly because COPD has always been considered a disease of the elderly, and little attention has been paid to the pathologic changes occurring in the lungs of individuals at risk before they develop clinically evident COPD. Future studies should focus on identifying early pathologic manifestations of COPD in order to prevent its progression in susceptible individuals. In this review, we aim to summarise what is known on early COPD, from the epidemiological, cellular and clinical perspectives.
Footnotes
This manuscript has recently been accepted for publication in the European Respiratory Journal. It is published here in its accepted form prior to copyediting and typesetting by our production team. After these production processes are complete and the authors have approved the resulting proofs, the article will move to the latest issue of the ERJ online. Please open or download the PDF to view this article.
Conflict of interest: Joan B. Soriano
Conflict of interest: Francesca Polverino
Conflict of interest: Borja G. Cosio
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