4. Beware: there are other diseases that can mimic COPD:
The differential diagnosis of COPD is broad, and it includes many considerations, among them:
- Asthma
- Heart failure
- Coronary artery disease
- Bronchiectasis
- Atypical pneumonia
- Tuberculosis
- Physical deconditioning
- Restrictive lung diseases (including sarcoidosis and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis)
- Chronic fungal or atypical mycobacterial lung infections
- Bronchiolitis
Reposted with permission from Decision Support in Medicine, LLC.