Acute exacerbations of chronic ob??structive pulmonary disease (AECOPD) account for over 1.5 million physician visits annually in Canada and are the most frequent cause of medical visits, hospital admissions, and death among patients with COPD.[3,4] In Canada COPD was the seventh most common cause of hospitalization for men (2.3%) and the eighth for women (2.0%), excluding childbirth, in 2000???20