Table 3.
Main differential diagnoses of COPD
| Diagnosis | Characteristics |
|---|---|
| COPD | • Onset in mid-life and later |
| • Symptoms slowly progressive | |
| • History of smoking or exposure to other types of pollution | |
| Asthma | • Onset usually early in life |
| • Symptoms vary widely from day to day | |
| • Symptoms worse at night/early morning | |
| • Allergy, rhinitis and/or eczema also present | |
| • Family history of asthma | |
| • Obesity can co-exist | |
| Congestive heart failure | • Chest X-ray shows dilated heart |
| • Older patients | |
| • Symptoms slowly progressive | |
| • Pulmonary oedema or ankle swelling | |
| • Night-time symptoms (orthopnoea) | |
| • Pulmonary function tests indicate volume restriction, not airflow limitation | |
| Bronchiectasis | • No or sparse smoking history |
| • Large volumes of purulent sputum | |
| • Frequent exacerbations | |
| • Possible co-existence of auto-immune disease | |
| • Commonly associated with bacterial infection | |
| • Chest X-ray shows bronchial dilation/wall thickening |
Reproduced with permission from: Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease 2021 Report; Table 2.7. Available from https://goldcopd.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/GOLD-REPORT-2021-v1.0-16Nov20_WMV.pdf, accessed 18 November 2020
COPD Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease