Does a decision aid help physicians to detect chronic obstructive pulmonary disease?

摘要

Awareness of possible chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in patients with respiratory complaints is recommended, but it is not feasible to perform spirometry in all of them. A decision aid could help physicians to stratify the diagnostic risk of COPD. However, studies on the added value of decision aids above that of the clinical assessment are lacking. The aim of this study is to quantify whether a formal 8-item decision aid for COPD adds diagnostic information, above the physician's initial clinical assessment.