Overview
- WHO and expert panels highlight a huge global burden with millions of deaths each year and persistent invisibility driven by stigma and late diagnosis.
- New Argentine data show that about 77% of cases are undiagnosed, prompting a nationwide campaign for free spirometry and calls for a national COPD program, registry, and decentralized rehabilitation.
- The Respiratory Health Initiative underscores limited primary-care access to spirometry in Argentina, contributing to frequent misdiagnosis and unequal access outside major cities.
- Mexico’s IMSS reports that 50–80% of cases may be undiagnosed, warns about biomass exposure as a major risk, and reinforces advanced inhaled therapies with personalized treatment pathways.
- GOLD 2025 guidance urges earlier detection with routine spirometry and wider rehabilitation access, as advocates push media and clinicians to counter stigma and broaden risk messaging beyond smoking.