title: Multidimensional Dyspnea Profile: an instrument for clinical and laboratory research.
abstract: There is growing awareness that dyspnoea, like pain, is a multidimensional experience, but measurement instruments have not kept pace. The Multidimensional Dyspnea Profile (MDP) assesses overall breathing discomfort, sensory qualities, and emotional responses in laboratory and clinical settings. Here we provide the MDP, review published evidence regarding its measurement properties and discuss its use and interpretation. The MDP assesses dyspnoea during a specific time or a particular activity (focus period) and is designed to examine individual items that are theoretically aligned with separate mechanisms. In contrast, other multidimensional dyspnoea scales assess recalled recent dyspnoea over a period of days using aggregate scores. Previous psychophysical and psychometric studies using the MDP show that: 1) subjects exposed to different laboratory stimuli could discriminate between air hunger and work/effort sensation, and found air hunger more unpleasant; 2) the MDP immediate unpleasantness scale (A1) was convergent with common dyspnoea scales; 3) in emergency department patients, two domains were distinguished (immediate perception, emotional response); 4) test-retest reliability over hours was high; 5) the instrument responded to opioid treatment of experimental dyspnoea and to clinical improvement; 6) convergent validity with common instruments was good; and 7) items responded differently from one another as predicted for multiple dimensions.
authors: Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care & Sleep Medicine, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, MA, USA Department of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA rbanzett@bidmc.harvard.edu.
authors: Robert B
authors: RB
authors: Banzett
authors: Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care & Sleep Medicine, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, MA, USA Department of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
authors: Carl R
authors: CR
authors: O'Donnell
authors: Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care & Sleep Medicine, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, MA, USA.
authors: Tegan E
authors: TE
authors: Guilfoyle
authors: College of Nursing, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, USA.
authors: Mark B
authors: MB
authors: Parshall
authors: Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care & Sleep Medicine, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, MA, USA Department of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
authors: Richard M
authors: RM
authors: Schwartzstein
authors: College of Nursing, University of Colorado, Denver, Aurora, CO, USA.
authors: Paula M
authors: PM
authors: Meek
authors: Department of Endodontics, UNC School of Dentistry, Center for Neurosensory Disorders, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, USA.
authors: Richard H
authors: RH
authors: Gracely
authors: Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care & Sleep Medicine, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, MA, USA.
authors: Robert W
authors: RW
authors: Lansing
mesh_terms: D004417:Dyspnea / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D006801:Humans; D011594:Psychometrics; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires