How Accurate Is the Diagnosis of "Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease" in Patients Hospitalized with an Acute Exacerbation?

: COPD diagnosis requires relevant symptoms and an FEV1/FVC ratio of <0.7 post-bronchodilator on spirometry. Patients are frequently labeled as COPD based on clinical presentation and admitted to the hospital with this diagnosis even though spirometry is either not available or has never been performed.