Global_Initiative_for_Chronic_Obstructive_Lung_Disease
The Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) is a non-profit organization started by the World Health Organization and the US National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute in 1997 to improve care for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).[1][2] They have organized the annual awareness day, World COPD Day, every November since 2002.[3]
This organization issues recommendations for the treatment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and related medical conditions. GOLD issued its first formal recommendations in 2001.[2] Their approach departed from previous medical guidelines in two significant respects:
- Previous recommendations were usually written by groups of experts, usually from a single medical specialty, partly on the basis of their own experiences.[2] They were the first to evaluate the levels of evidence that supported their recommendations.[2] GOLD's approach to evidence-based medicine was more rigorous than the previous COPD recommendations, but other organizations, including the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, use more complex systems.[2]
- GOLD's recommendations are also updated more frequently than was typical in the past.[2] This allows the recommendations to include newer evidence.