DGP

As a scientific and medical society, the DGP specialises in improving the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of respiratory and lung diseases. For a long time, the focus was on tuberculosis, but since the 1960s, common diseases such as asthma, COPD, pneumonia and lung cancer have made pneumology one of the major core subjects in internal medicine. Important current topics today are smoking cessation, the effects of air pollutants on the air we breathe, sleep-related breathing disorders and weaning from mechanical ventilation. 

COVID-19 has given the DGP a special role. Since the pandemic, the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus has become the focus of the specialist community. The guidelines for doctors and those affected for acute treatment were drawn up here together with other specialist organisations. 

The DGP recognised the importance of long COVID at an early stage and commissioned a guideline on the topic, which incorporates the rapidly growing knowledge on this topic and summarises recommendations for diagnosis and treatment. Members of the DGP are also involved in various expert committees advising on COVID-19 and long COVID. 

In view of the importance of the topic, a separate patient guideline has also been developed. This guideline for those affected and their environment explains the current evidence on the still very new topic of long COVID in a generally understandable way. 

Deutsche Gesellschaft für Pneumologie und Beatmungsmedizin has produced a short info film to provide an introduction to the topic of long COVID.