TY - JOUR T1 - <em>From the authors</em> JF - European Respiratory Journal JO - Eur Respir J SP - 241 LP - 242 DO - 10.1183/09031936.06.00113505 VL - 27 IS - 1 AU - M. Hoogendoorn AU - M. P. M. H. Rutten-van Mölken AU - T. L. Feenstra Y1 - 2006/01/01 UR - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/27/1/241.abstract N2 - We would like to thank N.B. Pride for the interest in our article 1 and the opportunity to elaborate on our projections of the increasing prevalence of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in the Dutch population. First, we would like to emphasise that, like all model projections, the numbers should not be considered as infallible projections for the future. This was not the aim of our model. Rather it has been developed as a tool to help explain the current situation, given current COPD treatment and knowledge on the demographics and smoking trends, and to support policy makers in their choices. While the current practice scenario may be interesting on its own, the main purpose of model projections over a certain time period is to enable comparison of different policy choices regarding prevention, as with the smoking cessation measures used as an illustration in our article. N.B. Pride addressed the issue as to why the prevalence of COPD for males increased despite … ER -