As regards asthma, patient education and self-management programs have proved to be successful at least when combined with a regular review in reducing the economic burden of the disease and in improving quality of life and lung function. In COPD, pulmonary rehabilitation has been shown to increase exercise tolerance and quality of life. The drawback is that pulmonary rehabilitation programs will normally be more expensive and time consuming for both professionals and patients than self-management programs, and may be less widely available.