摘要Respiratory medicine in China has made great progress in the past decades.Today,modern respiratory and critical care medicine faces tremendous new challenges and is also provided with greater opportunities.Respiratory diseases are a leading cause of morbidity and mortality that carry a huge economic and social burden in China.Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) alone affects 8.2％ of people aged 40 and over;nearly 43 million people in China.1 Respiratory diseases,excluding lung cancer,cor pulmonale and respiratory tuberculosis (TB),are the 4th leading cause of death in China.2 Control of respiratory diseases continues to be a challenging task in China.First,many respiratory diseases,such as COPD and lung cancer,are strongly associated with smoking and air pollution,which are particularly problematic in China.The smoking population in China is over 320 million3 and air pollution has been escalated with the process of modern industrialization.Second,the prevalence of chronic respiratory diseases is higher in older population.