International Clinical Practice Guideline of Chinese Medicine: Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a major chronic disease that seriously endangers public health. Some remarkable results have shown that Chinese medicine has an obvious clinical effect in preventing and treating COPD. To further promote the normative use ofChinesemedicinetobetterguidetheclinicaldiagnosisandtreatmentofCOPD,the WorldFederationofChineseMedicineSocieties developed a panel to establish the guidelines by systematically evaluating, based on the revision and transformation of Guidelines for Chinese Medicine Diagnosis and Treatment of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease released by the China Association of Chinese Medicine in 2019(Standard No:T/CACM 1319-2019), the latest clinical research evidence at home and abroad, formatting the International Clinical Practice Guideline of Chinese Medicine—Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, and publishing in both Chinese and English. The guidelines consist of 12 parts:preface, introduction, scope, normative references, terms and definitions, disease diagnosis and staging, severity assessment,etiology and pathogenesis, syndrome differentiation and treatment, other treatment, prevention and care, and appendix. They also standardize the contents of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) etiology and pathogenesis, syndrome differentiation and treatment, and prevention and care of COPD. These guidelines are applicable to clinical respiratory physicians of TCM and integrated traditional Chinese and western medicine.The release of these guidelines will help improve the effect and level of Chinese medicine for COPD.