Spanish COPD Guidelines (GesEPOC 2021): Non-pharmacological Treatment Update

In addition to recommendations for pharmacological treatment stratified for risk and phenotype, the new 2021 edition of the Spanish COPD Guidelines (GesEPOC 2021) proposes a personalized approach to treatable traits, defined as a characteristic (clinical, physiological, or biological) that can be identified by diagnostic tests or biomarkers, for which a specific treatment is available. Some treatable traits, such as malnutrition, sedentarism, emphysema or respiratory failure, can be treated with non-pharmacological therapies, and this was not covered in detail in the guidelines. This section of GesEPOC 2021 includes a narrative update with recommendations on dietary treatment, physical activity, respiratory rehabilitation, oxygen therapy, non-invasive ventilation, volume reduction, and lung transplantation. A PICO question with recommendations on the use of supplemental oxygen during exercise in COPD patients without severe hypoxemia is also included.

Published by Archivos de bronconeumologia, 2022. The guideline itself is at the source linked here.

doi.org/10.1016/j.arbres.2021.08.010