ACUTE EXACERBATIONS OF BPCO

COPD exacerbations are important and serious events that negatively impact the natural history of the disease. They lead to an alteration of the respiratory function with a more marked decline of FEV1, a reduction of the functional capacity to exercise, and a physical deconditioning leading to a sedentary lifestyle. Survival is threatened in the short term but also in the longer term. The management of these events is essential in the acute situation but also throughout the follow-up of the disease in stable state. It is based on an early diagnosis with a precise evaluation of the level of severity of these events, an adequate treatment and a preventive treatment including, in addition to drug therapies, smoking cessation and exercise rehabilitation.