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Treatment of exacerbations

Treatment of exacerbation of COPD.
Treatment of exacerbation spiral (Image: © The University of Edinburgh (2020) CC BY-SA 4.0)

A COPD exacerbation (or attack) is an acute worsening of respiratory symptoms that requires additional therapy. They are classified as mild, moderate or severe according to the treatment that is required:

  1. Mild exacerbation requires short acting bronchodilators only.
  2. Moderate exacerbation is treated with short acting bronchodilators plus antibiotics and/or oral corticosteroids
  3. Severe exacerbation requires hospitalisation

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Chronic Respiratory Diseases (CRD) in Primary Care Settings

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