Background
The pathophysiological changes of COPD tend to worsen with progression, triggering limiting symptoms and implying the decrease in the activities of daily living and quality of life. The COPD Assessment Test (CAT) is a questionnaire designed to measure the impact of COPD on the health status. The
Conclusion
The CAT is a sensitive tool to assess the current health status of COPD patients, and in Southern Brazil it is positively correlated with respiratory rate.
Methods
Study of cases with COPD patients was conducted by pulmonary rehabilitation program (RP). Respiratory rate (RR) and symptoms (dyspnea by Modified Borg Scale Dyspnea Index; symptoms by CAT) were analyzed at the beginning of the RP.
Results
The study analyzed 28 COPD patients, both genders, age 65.93 ± 7.84 years and many patients ranging from severe and very severe disease. The majority of patients were rated by CAT with low impact-disease (n = 13/46, 4%);medium (n = 11/39, 3%) and the high impact-diseases were observed in a few subjects (n = 4/14.3%). The difference between all CAT scores was significant, p = 0.000. There was a positive correlation between respiratory rate and CAT scores impact-level (r = 0.585, p = 0.001). The results obtained by the Borg Scale revealed a high presence of symptoms in these COPD patients but no association with CAT.