... the expanding epidemic of smoking and the changing demographics in most coun-tries, with more of the population living longer. Of these two forces, demographics is the stronger driver of the ... awareness and understanding of COPD among health professionals, the organization of health care services to cope with chronic diseases, and the availability of medications for the treatment of COPD1. ... surprisingly, there is a striking direct relationship be-tween the severity of COPD and the cost of care, and the distribution of costs changes as the disease progresses. For example, hospitalization...