Table 2. GOLD 2016: pharmacologic therapy for stable COPD.

Patient	Recommended No. 1. choice	Alternative choice	Other possible treatment
A	SAMA or SABA	LAMA or LABA or SABA+SAMA	Theophyllin
B	LAMA or LABA	LAMA+LABA	SABA and/or SAMA, theophyllin
C	Inhaled corticosteroid+LABA or LAMA	LAMA+LABA or LAMA+PDE-4-inhibitor or LABA+PDE-4-inhibitor	SABA and/or SAMA, theophyllin
D	Inhaled corticosteroid+LABA and/or LAMA	Inhaled corticosteroid+LAMA+LABA or inhaled corticosteroid+LABA+PDE-4-inhibitor or LAMA+LABA or LAMA+PDE-4-inhibitor	Carbocysterin, N-acetylcysteine, SABA and/or SAMA, theophyllin

Adopted from Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (2016)1, http://www.goldcopd.org.

GOLD: Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease; COPD: chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; SAMA: short-acting antimuscarinic; SABA: short-acting beta-agonist; LAMA: long-acting antimuscarinics; LABA: long-acting β2-agonists; PDE-4: phosphodiesterase 4.