OBJECTIVE

To compare the practicability and clinical value of different evaluation systems for assessing disease severity and treatment efficacy in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

METHODS

We retrospectively analyzed the clinical data of 28 patients with acute exacerbation of COPD admitted to our hospital between November, 2020 and January, 2021. All the patients were assessed with percentage of predicted forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1% pred), COPD assessment test (CAT), modified British Medical Research Council (mMRC), baseline dyspnea index (BDI), clinical COPD questionnaire (CCQ), St. George's respiratory questionnaire (SGRQ), BODE index, Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS) at admission and with CAT, mMRC, transition dyspnea index (TDI), CCQ, SGRQ, and HDRS at 1 month after discharge. The correlations among FEV1% pred, CAT, mMRC, BDI, CCQ, SGRQ, BODE and HDRS at admission were analyzed. We also compared the TDI and scores of CAT, mMRC, CCQ, SGRQ, and HDRS at 1 month after discharge among the patients using single (=8), dual (=10) or triple inhaled medications (=10) after discharge.

RESULTS

Among these patients, FEV1% pred was moderately correlated with SGRQ and BDI (=-0.66, =0.61; < 0.01), and CCQ activity score was closely correlated with mMRC, SGRQ activity score and BDI (=0.82, =0.92, =-0.89; < 0.01). SGRQ activity score was closely correlated with mMRC and BDI (=0.84, =-0.91; < 0.01), and SGRQ symptom score was closely correlated with BODE (=0.80, < 0.01). SGRQ impact score was moderately correlated with HDRS (=0.57, < 0.01). In all the 28 patients, all the evaluation scores except for CCQ mental score and HDRS improved significantly after treatment ( < 0.05). At 1 month after discharge, CCQ total score decreased significantly in single therapy group ( < 0.05); CAT, mMRC, CCQ and SGRQ improved obviously in dual therapy group ( < 0.05); CCQ and SGRQ scores decreased significantly in triple therapy group ( < 0.05); the TDI did not differ significantly among the 3 groups (>0.05).

CONCLUSION

For patients with COPD, BDI and TDI are recommended over mMRC for assessing dyspnea. CAT, CCQ and SGRQ allow sensitive assessment of the treatment efficacy to serve as routine evaluation tests, and among them SGRQ is the most comprehensive and is thus recommended when sufficient time is allowed. BODE is relatively complex but highly valuable for predicting the patients'survival outcomes. HDRS is recommended for routine screening of depression in patients with COPD.