Objective The purpose of this study was to investigate and analyze current status of prevention and treatment for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) at two community health service centers in urban and suburban Shanghai.Methods Among 711 patients with chronic cough and shortness of breath aged more than 40 years who visited Xiaokunshan and Xinbang community health service centers in Songjiang district of Shanghai, 132 were diagnosed as COPD and a face-to-face interview was conducted for all of them with questionnaires to understand current status of community prevention and treatment of COPD.Results Among 132 COPD patients, six (4.5%) were classified as stage Ⅰ, 29 (22.1%) as stage Ⅱ, 58 (43.9%) as stage Ⅲ and 39 (29.5%) as stage Ⅳ, respectively, according to their pulmonary function.Sixty-eight (51.5%) of them never smoked, 40 (30.3%) were past smokers but now quitters and 24 (18.2%) were current smokers, respectively.All the 126 smoking patients of COPD, including five at stage Ⅱ, 12 at stage Ⅲ and seven at stage Ⅲ, never underwent pulmonary function tests, and only 46 (36.5%) of those at stages Ⅱ, Ⅲ and Ⅳ visited out-patient clinics over the past year and 35 (27.8%) were hospitalized.Sixteen of them (12.1%) were once orally administered with theophyllines, 24 (18.2%) with β2receptor agonists, nine with (6.8%) inhaled bronchodilators, only three (2.3%) with inhaled corticosteroid hormones, respectively, over the past year.Twenty-six (19.7%) patients with COPD took illicit drugs of unknown ingredients and without production batches licensed by the State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA).Among 97 COPD patients at stages Ⅲ and Ⅳ, only one received long-term home oxygen therapy.Conclusion Management of COPD patients at community level was inadequate and should be standardized. Key words: Pulmonary disease; chronic obstructive; Community health centers; Questionnaire