[Research progress of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in young people and pre-COPD]

Conventional wisdom holds that the onset of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is usually in older people. However, with extended follow-up in large cohort studies, the trajectory of lung function development has been gradually delineated, indicating that the decline of lung function may originate early in life. In addition, a large number of studies have shown that people with chronic respiratory symptoms, pulmonary imaging changes and abnormal lung physiology, but not in line with pulmonary function diagnosis of COPD, tend to develop COPD in the future and may have a worse prognosis, suggesting the necessity of early intervention. The GOLD 2022 report proposes a series of terms related to COPD, including COPD in young people and pre-COPD, opening up new opportunities for the prevention, early diagnosis and treatment of COPD. These concepts also guide the study design of the biological mechanism of COPD and the trajectory of disease progression. This article reviews the research progress of COPD in young people and pre-COPD to attract more attention in clinical practice.