The ERS COPD Audit is a study which will change guidelines

COPD audit team announced that the 13 participating countries have completed 16.024 clinical and 420 hospital data. In total 19.446 clinical cases have been collected but 3.420 cases had to be withdrawn for different reasons like misdiagnose or incompleteness. 

The Data Analysis team of this COPD Audit has started the database cleaning process which will be followed by the descriptive analysis. COPD audit team aim to present the first preliminary results at the annual congress of the European Respiratory Society, Amsterdam 25 - 28 September.

Initial analysis of the COPD Audit results already demonstrates considerable differences in the organization and delivery of care between European hospitals and countries. Outcomes for patients suggest there remains much to be done to reach the evidence based standards advised in guidelines.

Who is that woman? You might have thought looking at the COPD Audit website or other promotional materials. The 'face of the COPD Audit' is Beatrice Hirsch, originally from South Africa, now living in Toronto (Canada). She witnessed, first hand, the rise of Nelson Mandela.

Beatrice has been diagnosed with chronic bronchitis for about 30 years. She was a smoker. At that time she didn't think something was wrong with her lungs. Smoking was a thing to do among people who were part of the "in" crowd; everybody smoked back then. Beatrice was extremely overweight and therefore she assumed her lack of breath was because of her weight. Now she knows better.

At present Beatrice is a volunteer in a hospital and meets with people who have recently been diagnosed with COPD. She tries to show them that life goes on, that it is possible to live quite well with COPD. Still there is one thing she misses the most, and that is dancing. She loved to dance.

Preliminary results of the COPD Audit will be launched following sessions during the ERS Annual Congress (24-28 September 2011 - Amsterdam):

Sunday 25 Sept. 10:45-12:45 - Room Emerald: Diagnosis of COPD exacerbations on hospital admission

Sunday 25 Sept. 13:00-14:30 - Room 4.1: Optimizing healthcare for COPD across Europe

Wednesday 28 Sept. 10:45-12:45 - Room Forum: Provision of non-pharmacological treatment options for COPD patients in 13 European countries

Moreover you can discuss COPD care and auditing face-to-face with the COPD Audit Steering Board during the 'Meet the Experts' session, Monday 26 Sept. 13:00-14:00 - ERS stand A.01

For more information and pre-ordering the official COPD Audit report, please visit the ERS stand A.01

International team of ERS COPD Audit is doing great job for improvement of care of all COPD patients. ERS COPD Audit will help to respiratory specialists to make their work more efficient and help to breathe easier COPD patients! As a result of this huge multinational study will be elaboration and updating of COPD Guidelines!