[Expert Workshop COPD: Lungs and Heart - Quite Often Ill Together].

When caring for patients with respiratory diseases, always think of the heart! This is especially important for COPD patients, but also for a variety of other disorders of the respiratory system. At the workshop "Luftschlösser", held once more at Wiesbaden, Germany in February 2019 the many and important interactions of the lungs and the heart as well as the therapeutic implications were discussed. Based on pathophysiology, the psycho-social consequences of dyspnea, the leading symptom in patients with lung and heart disease became apparent.

COPD: Rethinking Patient Management - How to Approach a Challenging Patient Group Successfully.

In comparison to other chronically ill people, patients suffering from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) have many additional difficulties to face and conquer. Due to the contribution of avoidable causes of their illness ("smokers' lung"), society holds people with COPD responsible for their disease, which in return often leads to stigmatization and social isolation. In addition, COPD patients commonly belong to a less privileged social class, own a low socioeconomic status, and lower education.

[Expert Meeting: Integrated Care of the COPD Patients].

Despite considerable progress concerning pharmaceutical therapeutic options, many COPD patients show a markedly reduced quality of life and increased mortality risk. This workshop aimed to identify COPD-specific factors impeding an improved mode of care for patients with COPD. Such factors are: the generally lower social and educational status of the majority of COPD patients; the stigma of COPD as a self-inflicted disease ("smoker's lung"); the strict sectoral separation within the German health care system.