Footnotes

• Twitter @COPDdoc, @NickHartThorax

• Contributors NSH wrote the first draft, to which NH and GJ contributed. All authors approved the final manuscript.

• Funding The authors have not declared a specific grant for this research from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.

• Patient consent for publication Not required.

• Provenance and peer review Commissioned; externally peer reviewed.