World Conference on COPD Patients María Victorina López Varela University of Montevideo Hospital Maciel Uruguay Rome, June 2009

Cross-sectional multi-site study COPD: The Latin American Perspective PROYECTO LATINOAMERICANO DE INVESTIGACION EN OBSTRUCCION PULMONAR http://www.platino-alat.org Brasil Chile Venezuela México Uruguay PLATINO Menezes Lancet 2005; 366:1875 Colombia PREPOCOL Chest 2008; 133:343 Cross-sectional multi-site study 5 LA cities Population-based Adults ≥ 40 years old 5571questionnaires 5315 spirometries post BD 758 COPD

COPD: The Latin American Perspective Prevalent

COPD: The Latin American Perspective Risk factors : smoking biomass exposure

COPD: The Latin American Perspective Under and misdiagnosed

COPD: The Latin American Perspective Under and anaccurate treated

COPD: The Latin American Perspective Frequent exacerbations Montes de Oca M. et al Chest online Un n ú Exacerbations are frequent in COPD patients and related to severity

COPD: The Latin American Perspective Underuse of spirometry

COPD: The Latin American Perspective What are we doing ? ALAT Educational programs / Courses : Primary care Pulmonologists Awareness : Campaigns exist Patients Associations are growing

Smoking bans and cessation programs

Conference Summary & Global Mandate GOALS Presenting take-home-messages from workshops Initiating new campaigns on Increasing awareness (diagnosis, disease, treatment) Smoking as a major cause Smoking bans in public Introducing the four letter abbreviation COPD to the public White Paper: Summarizing the findings of this congress and further actions,

Conference Summary & Global Mandate AWARENESS Should be first step to fight COPD Is low among public and physicians in most regions of the world Public campaigns and events to inform about COPD have been successfully performed Must be globally improved by government, health-care givers, patient organizations,

Conference Summary & Global Mandate SMOKING PREVENTION “Tobacco smoking is linked to COPD” Tobacco smoking is one major cause to develop COPD Anti-smoking-campaigns and smoking bans are needed to fight COPD There are wide regions globally where smoking is increasing and not banned Public smoking bans can positive influence smokers habit Smoking cessation can be achieved

Conference Summary & Global Mandate DIAGNOSIS AND TREATMENT Regions with: Lack of diagnosis Lack of availability or unaffordability of treatment Prevention of COPD and screening measures to better diagnose disease should be emphasized Treatment has to be provided by government in areas, where medication is not available or too expensive for patients.