ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Cardiovasc. Med.
Sec. Cardiovascular Epidemiology and Prevention
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fcvm.2025.1531966
Streamlining Referrals by Establishing a UAE-Specific Referral Algorithm for CVD Patients with Overlapping COPD: A Collaborative Effort by Cardiologists and Pulmonologists
Provisionally accepted
Abdullah Shehab1*
Ashraf Alzaabi2Abdulmajeed Al Zubaidi3
Bassam Mahboub4
Hadi Skouri5Hamad AlHameli6Hassan El Tamimi7Mohammed Nizam Iqbal4- 1Burjeel Hospital Al Ain, Al Ain, United Arab Emirates
- 2Zayed Military Hospital, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
- 3Burjeel Hospital, Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
- 4Rashid Hospital, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
- 5Sheikh Shakhbout Medical City, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
- 6Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
- 7Mediclinic City Hospital, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
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Introduction: Concomitant COPD and CVD are highly prevalent and contribute to increased risk of hospitalizations, morbidity, and mortality, and impose a significant financial burden on healthcare systems. Diagnosis of COPD in patients with comorbid CVD and vice versa is challenging due to an overlap between the risk factors and symptoms of these two conditions. This 8-member task force comprising pulmonologists and cardiologists agreed that in the UAE, while COPD patients suspected of having CVD are promptly referred to cardiology, CVD patients who may potentially also have COPD are often not referred or referred late from cardiology to pulmonology. This gap in identifying CVD patients who may potentially also have COPD must be addressed to facilitate referrals of such patients to pulmonology. Methods and Results: A task force comprising an equal number of cardiologists and pulmonologists met virtually and identified the gaps in current practices for diagnosing patients with comorbid COPD and CVD in the UAE. The task force has proposed an algorithm to expedite the referral of CVD patients suspected of COPD from cardiology to pulmonology. Conclusion: Implementing this referral algorithm across all cardiology departments in the UAE can facilitate the diagnosis of COPD in CVD patients, allow timely treatment of COPD, and improve patient outcomes.
Keywords: cardiovascular, COPD, United Arab Emirates, collaboration, Cardiologists, Pulmonologists
Received: 21 Nov 2024; Accepted: 11 Jun 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Shehab, Alzaabi, Al Zubaidi, Mahboub, Skouri, AlHameli, El Tamimi and Iqbal. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Abdullah Shehab, Burjeel Hospital Al Ain, Al Ain, United Arab Emirates
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