The quality of care can be improved by the development and implementation of evidence-based treatment guidelines. Different national guidelines for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) exist in Europe and relevant differences may exist among them.This was an evaluation of COPD treatment guidelines published in Europe and Russia in the past 7 years. Each guideline was reviewed in detail and information about the most important aspects of patient diagnosis, risk stratification and pharmacotherapy was extracted following a standardised process. Guidelines were available from the Czech Republic, England and Wales, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Spain and Sweden. The treatment goals, criteria for COPD diagnosis, consideration of comorbidities in treatment selection and support for use of long-acting bronchodilators, were similar across treatment guidelines. There were differences in measures used for stratification of disease severity, consideration of patient phenotypes, criteria for the use of inhaled corticosteroids and recommendations for other medications (e.g. theophylline and mucolytics) in addition to bronchodilators.There is generally good agreement on treatment goals, criteria for diagnosis of COPD and use of long-acting bronchodilators as the cornerstone of treatment among guidelines for COPD management in Europe and Russia. However, there are differences in the definitions of patient subgroups and other recommended treatments.

2nd Department of Respiratory Medicine Institute of Tuberculosis and Lung Diseases Warsaw Poland

Department of Public Health and Clinical Medicine Medicine Unit Umeå University Umeå Sweden

Dept of Medicine Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine University Medical Center Giessen and Marburg Philipps University Marburg German Center for Lung Research Marburg Germany

Dept of Pathophysiology and Transplantation Università degli Studi di Milano IRCCS Fondazione Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico Cà Granda Milan Italy

Dept of Respiratory Medicine Seinäjoki Central Hospital Seinäjoki Finland Dept of Respiratory Medicine University of Tampere Tampere Finland

Dept of Respiratory Medicine University Hospital Olomouc Olomouc Czech Republic

Hospital de Santa Marta Centro Hospitalar de Lisboa Central Universidade Nova de Lisboa Lisbon Portugal

Institute of Pulmonology Federal Medical and Biological Agency Moscow Russia

Pneumology Dept University Hospital Vall d'Hebron Ciber de Enfermedades Respiratorias Barcelona Spain

Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital Exeter UK

Service de Pneumologie et Soins Intensifs Respiratoires Hôpital Cochin University Paris Descartes Paris France

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