Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and COVID‑19

Abstract

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‑19) pandemic tends to have a more severe clinical picturein the elderly and in patients with chronic diseases, one of which is chronic obstructive pulmonarydisease (COPD). Around 2%–3% of patients infected with coronavirus have had the diagnosis ofCOPD; the critical care, intubation requirement, and mortality rate have been higher among this groupof patients with the development of hypoxemia. Exacerbation and COVID‑19 pneumonia are twodifferential diagnoses in patients with COPD; the fever among the symptoms, lymphopenia amongthe laboratory findings, and typical radiological findings in thoracic tomography of patients may behelpful in the diagnosis of COVID‑19. The stabilization of the disease is important in the follow‑upof patients with COPD during this pandemic; the continuation of maintenance treatment of patientshas been accepted as the main strategy. Droplet and contact transmissions should be decreased,and basic hygiene and nutritional rules should be followed in the COPD patient group in which therisk of infection development is high. There are various opinions on the administration of treatmentthrough nebulizers during the pandemic; the use of inhaler devices is the safer and recommendedmethod. Since noninvasive mechanical ventilators may increase the risk of contamination, they arenot included among the routine treatment recommendations for patients with COPD.