[Prevention of respiratory tract diseases].

There are multiple possibilities for pulmonary or bronchial damage and their number exceeds that for the other organ systems dealt with in this issue. This multiplicity of diseases which are at least in part attributable to exogenous damage gives rise to manifold approaches to prevention. This overview does not claim to be complete. It is however intended to clarify the possibilities that exist for the prevention of pulmonary diseases. In addition, it intends to show that effective primary and occasionally secondary and tertiary prevention is inadequately utilized in pulmonology or not even used at all. Against the background that individual preventive measures in pulmonology are considerably more successful than curative measures, also from a health economics point of view, various options for successful prevention are described. The great need for studies on the effectiveness of preventive strategies is also addressed.