[Smoking cessation in patients with COPD: the status of routine care in Germany]

Almost every second heavy-smoker (> 20 Cig./day) develops a COPD after long-term tobacco use. Cigarette smoking is not only the leading cause of COPD, but also the most important predictor for an unfavourable prognosis. Inversely, quitting smoking can enhance the disease course as well as the lung function of patients suffering from COPD more effectively than any other treatment. Currently, a wide range of evidence-based psychological and pharmacological smoking cessation treatments exists including disease-specific therapy approaches. However, professional smoking cessation treatments are used only rarely in health-care routine. This fact is due to persisting deficits in the German health-care system: With the exception of pharmacological therapy approaches and some telephone or online counselling programmes, smoking cessation treatments are not generally available. In the future, one should keep a sharp eye on the permanent motivation of COPD patients to quit smoking totally and to establish disease-specific smoking cessation programmes in routine care.