Abstract. Introduction: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) remains one of the most challenging medical and social problems, characterized by large-scale prevalence, high mortality rates, disability and significant economic losses. Objective: to establish the special features of clinical and functional course of COPD in individuals with the first established diagnosis of the disease, depending on their gender and age. Materials and methods: During the study, we screened a group of patients at high risk of developing COPD with the help of original questionnaire, created on the basis of GOLD questionnaires (2012, 2015) and Order of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine No. 555 of June 27, 2013 [6, 7], depending on the severity of clinical manifestations of respiratory symptoms and COPD risk factors. The group consisted of 216 individuals (41,1 %) including 115 female (53,2 %) and 101 male (46,8 %) subjects, who considered themselves healthy and regularly passed medical examinations twice a year. The results: We found that among 79 (58,1 %) examined patients,according to spirography reports, the Tifno index (FEV1/FVC) was decreased by at least 70% which showed that they had newly diagnosed COPD. Having compared the groups of patients with and without COPD, we can definitely say about statistically significant difference between the number of male and female individuals, and age differences only in agroup of 61-79 individuals with COPD. This group consisted of significantly more males 9 (28,1 %) than females – 2 (4,3 %), (p=0,001).We compared the incidence of major COPD risk factors. All respondents had a history of respiratory diseases. There was no statistically significant difference between men and women in both groups. In the COPD group, an allergic-burdened history was reported rather by women (71,9 %) than men (61,7 %). In the nonCOPD group, this risk factor was also more often reported by women (91,7 %) than men (72,7 %). Among individuals with newly diagnosed COPD, 34 (72,3 %) male individuals and 8 (25 %) female ones were smokers, (p=0,001). Among non-COPD individuals, 21 male subjects (63,6 %) and 2 female subjects (8,3 %), (p=0,001) were smokers. The gender ratio of patients with newly diagnosed COPD, depending on the disease severity, was as follows: GOLD 1 presented 15 men (19,0 %) and 6 women (7,6 %); GOLD 2 – 14 men (17,7 %) and 12 women (15,2 %); GOLD 3 – 16 men (20,2 %) and 12 women (15,2 %); and GOLD 4 – 2 men (2,5 %) and 2 women (2,5 %). Conclusions: It was found that among the examined patients in 79 (58,1 %) patients, spirography revealed a decrease of Tifno index (FEV1/FVC) by less than 70 % and was considered as the first diagnosis of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.