A Historical Perspective on Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease: From Past to Present

René-Théophile-Hyacinthe Laennec in his book "Treatise of the Diseases of the Chest" discussed the emphysema in 1821. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) has been around for at least 202 years, from 1821 to 2023 (but the disease itself is much older than that). It is believed that William Briscoe first used the term COPD in June 1965, at the 9th Aspen Emphysema Conference. COPD was first defined by the CIBA guest symposium in 1959 and the American Thoracic Society Committee on Diagnostic Standards in 1962; recent definition of COPD was released by the Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) report 2023. In 1990, it was sixth leading cause of death and in 2020 COPD becomes third leading cause of death. GOLD update 2023 also proposed taxonomy (etiotypes), classification of COPD based on risk factors, and ABE assessment tool for COPD. Now concept of early-COPD, pre-COPD, and, mild-COPD are also emerging, which are helpful in better understanding of COPD. Here, we have discussed historical landmarks, definition, burden, taxonomy, classification, different concept of disease, ABE assessment tool, personalized medicine, and brief description of GOLD and World COPD Day from past to present.