Abstract

CROSS SECTIONAL STUDY BASED ON CLINICAL FEATURES ON PATIENTS OF COPD ON THE BASIS OF COPD ASSESSMENT TEST SCORE

Geeta Rawat*

ABSTRACT

Goal: A common tool for evaluating how COPD symptoms affect a person's health is the COPD assessment test (CAT). Even though the CAT has eight distinct elements, not much is known about how each item is distributed. The study purpose was to look into the distribution and clinical implications of each CAT item in stable COPD patients, stratified by group of CAT severity Patients and Methods cross-sectional study was conducted at Department of pulmonary medicine SGT Medical College Hospital & Research Institute Haryana.. Patients with COPD who had their CAT evaluated at the initial clinical visit were identified retrospectively, as confirmed by spirometery. Three impact groups were identified for the patients: low (0 ≤ CAT < 10),medium (10 ≤ CAT < 20), and high (20 ≤ CAT ≤ 40). The first four items cough, sputum, chest tightness, and dyspnea—as well as the final four—activities, confidence, sleep, and energy—were likewise categorized as "pulmonary" and "extra-pulmonary" for the purposes of this research. Findings: Among the 408 patients included in the study, the mean (SD) forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1) was 62.8 (17.4%) pred. 300 of them, or 36.8%, belonged to the high impact group and had a history of more exacerbations as well as reduced lung function. Patients with higher total CAT scores had a higher proportion of "extra-pulmonary" items scored, with higher scores on the activity and confidence items. Conclusion: Our study shows that activity limitation is a specific issue in individual patients with higher CAT total scores, in addition to dyspnea, for which doctors should pay closer attention. Our research indicates that each CAT item includes potentially helpful information in identifying the patient's symptom, even though the CAT total score captures the overall burden of COPD.

Keywords: COPD, COPD assessment test, Patient reported outcome, Symptom.