Asthma, COPD, and asthma-COPD overlap from the primary care physician perspective

This chapter discusses the particular challenges faced by doctors and nurses working in primary care management of patients with asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). The focus is directed at issues related to diagnosis, differential diagnosis, and ongoing management challenges, as well as identifying when to refer to a specialist. As therapy is dealt with in more detail elsewhere in this book, the reader is directed to those chapters, bearing in mind that patients with features of combined asthma and COPD are generally more at risk than in cases where they suffer from only one of these diseases. 1–3 The reader is also directed to the relevant chapters in the Global Initiative for Asthma (GINA) and the Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) strategy documents for more information on management of these conditions. 1,2