Fixed ratio or other ways to define COPD: what can we learn from others?

Hot topics
Chairs: J. Soriano (Bunyola, Spain), M. Miller (Birmingham, United Kingdom), M. Nishimura (Sapporo, Japan)
Aims: The aims of this session are to:
- review how we define (and how we should define) obstructive respiratory diseases;
- learn from the history lessons from other disciplines also dealing with diseases associated with aging and tobacco, with close to arbitrary definitions within a continuum, and with incomplete knowledge of their natural history and associated risks (hypertension, diabetes, etc.), yet with success stories in prevention, diagnosis, control and treatment.

National hypertension guidelines in the USA: a success story in disease management A. Chobanian (Boston, United States of America)
Conspiracy theory in tobacco-related respiratory diseases L. J. Clancy (Dublin, Ireland)
Making sense of COPD definitions and data to the general practitioner, the pulmonologist and the epidemiologist J. Vestbo (Hvidovre, Denmark)