Approximately 500 000 individuals in Sweden have chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Co-morbid, especially cardiovascular, conditions are common in COPD and globally COPD is the third most common cause of mortality. Mortality in COPD is driven by dyspnea, exacerbations and comorbidities and is reduced by smoking cessation and lung rehabilitation. Also, pharmacological treatment, in particular inhaled corticosteroids, reduces mortality in COPD. The reduction in mortality that can be achieved by treatment with inhaled corticosteroids in combinations with long-acting bronchodilators is of the same order of magnitude as the effect on mortality by treatment of hyperlipidemia and hypertension.