The Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD)

COPD is a major cause of chronic morbidity and mortality throughout the world that fails to receive adequate attention from the healthcare community and government officials. COPD is currently the fourth leading cause of death in the world, and further increases in the prevalence and mortality of the disease are likely in coming decades. A unified international effort is required to reverse these trends.

The Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) is a collaborative project of the U.S. National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI) and the World Health Organization (WHO). Its goals are to increase awareness of COPD and decrease morbidity and mortality from the disease. GOLD aims to improve prevention and management of COPD through a concerted worldwide effort of people involved in all facets of health care and health care policy and to encourage renewed research interest in this extremely prevalent disease.

Among GOLD’s important objectives are to increase awareness of COPD and to help the thousands of people who suffer from this disease and die prematurely from COPD or its complications.

A major problem is the incomplete information about the causes and prevalence of COPD, especially in developing countries. While cigarette smoking is a major known risk factor, much remains to be learned about the other causes of this disease. The GOLD initiative will bring COPD to the attention of governments, public health officials, healthcare workers, and the general public, but a concerted effort by all involved in healthcare will be necessary to control this major public health problem.

Although treatment for COPD has not changed significantly in the past few years, the NHLBI and WHO have established an evidence-based standard of care called the “GOLD Guidelines”. This program is designed to educate primary care physicians about the GOLD Guidelines and to provide the most current information on diagnosis, treatment and management of COPD and the promising therapies on the horizon.

To aid diagnosis and management of COPD, the disease is often sub-divided into stages depending on severity – characterised by lung function (fev ¹), as well as clinical signs and symptoms. The stages are characterized by GOLD as: at risk, mild, moderate and severe.

Visit the GOLD website: www.goldcopd.com