ABSTRACT
PURPOSE: The chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) assessment test (CAT) was recently introduced for use in assessing disease-specific quality of life and follow-up of patients with COPD. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of the dyspnea on disease-specific quality of life detected by CAT score in patients with COPD. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this study, 90 stable patients with COPD as defined by the Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) criteria were included. The level of dyspnea was assessed with the Medical Research Council (MRC) dyspnea scale, and disease-specific quality of life was assessed with CAT score. RESULTS: The mean+/-SD age was 68.5+/-10.9 (range 41-97) years. A significant relationship was established between CAT score, MRC dyspnea scale score and GOLD stage in patients with COPD. There was also a positive correlation between dyspnea scale scores and GOLD stage in the patients (p<0.001), as well as positive correlation between CAT score and dyspnea scale score (p<0.001). CAT score showed a significant correlation with hospitalization and exacerbations (p<0.05). CONCLUSION: Dyspnea is an important symptom that may impact quality of life in patients with COPD. CAT was shown to be a simple, fast and intelligible measurement of disease-specific quality of life, and was correlated with levels of dyspnea in patients with COPD.