<p>Early management of COPD: where are we now and where do we go from here? A Delphi consensus project</p>

Purpose There is a lack of consensus on the most appropriate early diagnostic strategy, criteria for early access to treatment and follow-up approach for patients with COPD. Materials and methods A Delphi consensus project investigated the early management of COPD. We formulated two questionnaires for completion by pneumologists in Italy. Results A total of 207 specialists completed questionnaire 1 and 184 of them questionnaire 2, between November 2016 and October 2017. Early diagnosis of COPD was considered uncommon for 93.2% of the expert panel. Regardless of the definition of "early diagnosis" - a diagnosis made before the clinical manifestation of the disease for most responders (60.4%)…