Article topics: Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, COPD, Malnutrition in COPD, patients with COPD
Identifying and managing malnutrition in patients with COPD is vital.
Matthew Hodson and Samantha Blamires explore how nutritional screening and appropriate management of malnutrition can improve outcomes for patients with COPD.
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is an umbrella term for a number of lung diseases, including emphysema and chronic bronchitis. There are an estimated three million people living with the condition in the UK, however only 900,000 are currently diagnosed (National Institute for Health and Care Excellence [NICE], 2010). COPD is a major cause of morbidity and mortality, accounting for more than 28,000 deaths, 130,000 emergency admissions and 1.4 million GP consultations every year (NICE, 2010). Weight loss and being underweight are associated with poor prognosis and increased mortality, independent of disease severity (Ezzell et al, 2000), yet malnutrition is largely underrecognised and undertreated.
This piece was sponsored by an educational grant from Nutricia Advanced Medical Nutrition.