Pharmacological treatment of stable COPD: need for a simplified approach

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is one of the most common diseases worldwide. Although different guidelines regarding therapeutic algorithms exist, the most widely adopted approach is the one suggested by the Global Initiative in Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease in which patients are stratified according to their dyspnea severity and their exacerbation history during the previous year. This combined assessment of COPD, which takes into consideration all aforementioned characteristics of COPD patients as well as the number of blood eosinophils, results in a proposed therapeutic algorithm which is complex and hard to memorize. This complexity is probable one of the causes that most health care professionals are not adherent to the guidelines when treating COPD patients. Here, we propose a simplified therapeutic algorithm for the treatment of COPD patients taking into consideration the current evidence on the use of bronchodilators and inhaled corticosteroids.