title: Assessment of health status in patients with newly diagnosed chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
abstract: METHODS
  Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a common disease worldwide. This study aimed to investigate the health status of patients with newly diagnosed COPD.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 45 healthy controls and 218 patients with newly diagnosed COPD were recruited. Pulmonary function test (PFT) values, COPD assessment test (CAT) scores, exacerbation history, and demographics were recorded.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Forced expiratory volume in 1 s percent (FEV1%) predicted was significantly decreased and the CAT score was significantly increased in patients with COPD compared with healthy controls (P <0.001). Among the COPD patients, the most commonly reported respiratory symptoms were cough (86.7%), sputum (80.3%), and dyspnea (45%). A total of 86.2% patients were in the moderate or severe stage (spirometric classification) of COPD, and 71.5% were in Group C or Group D (combined assessment). A total of 33.9% of the patients had 2 or more exacerbations in the previous year. Nearly half of the patients (45.4%) had a high CAT score of ≥ 10. Patients with a history of more exacerbations had a higher CAT score.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Most COPD patients were symptomatic and appeared to have moderate to severe airflow limitation or a high risk of exacerbation before definitely being diagnosed with COPD using the PFT.
authors.affiliation: Department of Respiratory Medicine, Beijing Friendship Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Yongping
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology, Institute of Materia Medica, Peking Union Medical College and Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Qi
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Hou
authors.affiliation: Department of Respiratory Medicine, Beijing Friendship Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Haoyan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D005541:Forced Expiratory Volume; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D029424:Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D012129:Respiratory Function Tests; D012720:Severity of Illness Index