Versicherungsmedizin / herausgegeben von Verband der Lebensversicherungs-Unternehmen e.V. und Verband der Privaten Krankenversicherung e.V
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Versicherungsmedizin · Sep 2006
Review[COPD--chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and its implications for the human organism].
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) belongs next to bronchial asthma to the most important diseases of the respiratory tract in terms of its socio-economic impact. Especially exacerbations of COPD and clinical end-stages exert extremely negative effects on the global burden of disease. This article analyses current aspects of COPD regarding epidemiology, pathogenesis, pathophysiology and diagnosis of the disease. Given the estimation that COPD will be the third most common cause of death in the year 2020, the high socio-economic costs and the primary cause tobacco smoke exposure, the disease can be regarded as extremely relevant for numerous aspects of insurance medicine.
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Innovation is an important stimulus of the economy and the healthcare system. Two components may inhibit innovations, an increased risk of the developers to market their innovations and an increased risk of the public to increase the costs due to uncontrolled use of innovations. ⋯ The need for outcomes research is described. To differentiate clinical research from outcomes research, we demonstrate that these two fields of research pursue different goals, use different methods, and finally generate different types of results.
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Pain and depression are a severe burden on the patient and on the health system. The diseases have many common pathophysiological aspects and a high level of comorbidity. ⋯ Documentation of the disease is important for treatment, for questions in the field of healthcare and in order to furnish a medical opinion. Important diagnostic assessments and differential diagnoses are described.