Clinical Management of COPD in the Real World: Can Studies Reveal Errors in Management and Pathways to Improve Patient Care?

Real world data comprise information on health care that is derived from multiple sources outside typical clinical research settings. This review focuses on what real world evidence tells us about problems with the diagnosis of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), problems with the initial and follow-up pharmacological and non-pharmacological management, problems with the management of exacerbations and problems with palliative care. Data from real world studies show errors in the management of COPD with delays to diagnosis, lack of confirmation of the diagnosis with spirometry, lack of holistic assessment, lack of attention to smoking cessation, variable adherence to management guidelines, delayed implementation of appropriate interventions, under-recognition of patients at higher risk of adverse outcomes, high hospitalisation rates for exacerbations and poor implementation of palliative care. Understanding that these problems exist and considering how and why they occur is fundamental to developing solutions to improve the diagnosis and management of patients with COPD.