title: Variability of breathlessness measurement in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
abstract: The purpose of our study was to evaluate the reproducibility of a Borg rating of dyspnea in patients with COPD. We examined nine patients with COPD who performed a SST on four separate days within a ten-day period. The patients walked on a treadmill for 6 min. At the end of each minute, patients matched a Borg rating to the intensity of their breathlessness. We measured the HR, VE, VO2, VT and f at the end of each minute. While the mean VO2, VE, HR, VT and f stabilized after one or two attempts, the Borg ratings decreased with successive tests. We conclude that the Borg scale for measuring breathlessness shows progressive decreases with repetition whereas VO2, VE, HR, VT and f stabilize after one or two practice attempts. This suggests that desensitization to dyspnea may play a role in the improvement of patients after exercise.
authors.affiliation: Division of Pulmonary Medicine, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, University of California, Los Angeles.
authors.forename: M J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Belman
authors.forename: L R
authors.initials: LR
authors.lastname: Brooks
authors.forename: D J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Ross
authors.forename: Z
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Mohsenifar
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D002245:Carbon Dioxide / Q000378:metabolism; D004417:Dyspnea / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology; D005080:Exercise Test; D005260:Female; D005540:Forced Expiratory Flow Rates; D005541:Forced Expiratory Volume; D006801:Humans; D008173:Lung Diseases, Obstructive / Q000503:physiopathology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010100:Oxygen / Q000097:blood; D010101:Oxygen Consumption; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012119:Respiration; D013147:Spirometry; D014797:Vital Capacity
chemical_list: D002245:Carbon Dioxide; D010100:Oxygen