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Prevalence and Burden of Breathlessness in Patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Managed in Primary Care
Open accessAbstract
BACKGROUND & AIMS: Breathlessness is a primary clinical feature of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). We aimed to describe the frequency of and factors associated with breathlessness in a cohort of COPD patients identified from the Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD), a general practice electronic medical records database. METHODS: Patients with a record of COPD diagnosis after January 1 2008 were identified in the CPRD. Breathlessness was assessed using the Medical Research Council (MRC) dyspnoea scale, with scoring ranging from 1-5, which has been routinely administered as a part of the regular assessment of patients with COPD in the general practice since April 2009. Stepwise multivariate logistic regression estimated independent associations with dyspnoea. Negative binomial regression evaluated a relationship between breathlessness and exacerbation rate during follow-up. RESULTS: The total cohort comprised 49,438 patients diagnosed with COPD; 40,425 (82%) had any MRC dyspnoea grade recorded. Of those, 22,770 (46%) had moderate-to-severe dyspnoea (MRC ≥ 3). Breathlessness increased with increasing airflow limitation; however, moderate-to-severe dyspnoea was also observed in 32% of patients with mild airflow obstruction. Other factors associated with increased dyspnoea grade included female gender, older age (≥ 70 years), obesity (BMI ≥ 30), history of moderate-to-severe COPD exacerbations, and frequent visits to the general practitioner. Patients with worse breathlessness were at higher risk of COPD exacerbations during follow-up. CONCLUSIONS: Moderate-to-severe dyspnoea was reported by >40% of patients diagnosed with COPD in primary care. Presence of dyspnoea, including even a perception of mild dyspnoea (MRC = 2), was associated with increased disease severity and a higher risk of COPD exacerbations during follow-up.
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“Refractory breathlessness is a highly prevalent and distressing symptom in advanced chronic respiratory disease.”
From The Breathing, Thinking, Functioning clinical model: a proposal to facilitate evidence-based breathlessness management in chronic respiratory disease (2017) · cites this paper as [2]
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“Its intensity is not reliably predicted by the severity of lung pathology”
From The Breathing, Thinking, Functioning clinical model: a proposal to facilitate evidence-based breathlessness management in chronic respiratory disease (2017) · cites this paper as [2]
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“8 An observational study of almost 50,000 patients with COPD in the UK revealed that a third of those with stage 1 disease described moderate to severe breathlessness, whereas over 20% of those with stage 4 disease did not have clinically significant breathlessness.(2) In a recent controlled trial, bronchoscopic lung…”
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Metadata
- Authors
- Müllerová, H., Lu, C., Li, H., & Tabberer, M.
- Affiliations
- GlaxoSmithKline (United Kingdom) (GB)
- GlaxoSmithKline (United States) (US)
- Corresponding author
- Müllerová, Hana
- Venue
- PLoS ONE
- Publisher
- Public Library of Science (PLoS)
- Published
- 2014-01-10
- Volume
- 9
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- e85540
- ISSN
- 1932-6203 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC3888425
- OpenAlex
- W2062066840
- Cited by
- 139
- References
- 43
- Citations by year
- 2026: 12 · 2025: 12 · 2024: 15 · 2023: 6 · 2022: 17 · 2021: 15 · 2020: 11 · 2019: 9 · 2018: 17 · 2017: 10 · 2016: 9 · 2015: 4 · 2014: 2
- FWCI
- 6.69
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- PLoS ONE (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Funders
- GlaxoSmithKline
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Pulmonary and Respiratory Medicine › Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) Research
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Pulmonary and Respiratory Medicine › Asthma and respiratory diseases
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Smoking Behavior and Cessation
- Keywords
- chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, dyspnea, MRC dyspnoea scale, COPD exacerbations, airflow obstruction, disease severity, obesity, primary care
- MeSH terms
- Aged, Dyspnea, Female, Follow-Up Studies, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Primary Health Care, Respiratory Function Tests, Risk Factors, Severity of Illness Index, Cohort Studies, Prevalence, Databases, Factual, Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive, Public Health Surveillance, Patient Outcome Assessment
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