title: Evaluation of the COPD Assessment Test and GOLD patient types: a cross-sectional analysis.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The COPD Assessment Test (CAT) has been recently developed to quantify COPD impact in routine practice. However, no relationship with other measures in the Global Initiative for Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) strategy has been evaluated. The present study aimed to evaluate the relationship of the CAT with other GOLD multidimensional axes, patient types, and the number of comorbidities.
  
  
  METHODS
  This was a cross-sectional analysis of the Clinical presentation, diagnosis, and course of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (On-Sint) study. The CAT score was administered to all participants at the inclusion visit. A GOLD 2011 strategy consisting of modified Medical Research Council scale (MRC) scores was devised to study the relationship between the CAT, and GOLD 2011 axes and patient types. The relationship with comorbidities was assessed using the Charlson comorbidity index, grouped as zero, one to two, and three or more.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The CAT questionnaire was completed by 1,212 patients with COPD. The CAT maintained a relationship with all the three axes, with a ceiling effect for dyspnea and no distinction between mild and moderate functional impairment. The CAT score increased across GOLD 2011 patient types A-D, with similar scores for types B and C. Within each GOLD 2011 patient type, there was a considerably wide distribution of CAT values.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our study indicates a correlation between CAT and the GOLD 2011 classification axes as well as the number of comorbidities. The CAT score can help clinicians, as a complementary tool to evaluate patients with COPD within the different GOLD patient types.
authors.affiliation: Unidad Médico-Quirúrgica de Enfermedades Respiratorias, Instituto de Biomedicina de Sevilla (IBiS), Hospital Universitario Virgen del Rocio/Universidad de Sevilla, Sevilla, Spain ; CIBER de Enfermedades Respiratorias (CIBERES), Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Jose Luis
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Lopez-Campos
authors.affiliation: Servicio de Neumología, Instituto de Investigación Biomédica de Vigo (IBIV), Complexo Hospitalario de Vigo, Vigo, Spain.
authors.forename: Alberto
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Fernandez-Villar
authors.affiliation: Unidad Médico-Quirúrgica de Enfermedades Respiratorias, Instituto de Biomedicina de Sevilla (IBiS), Hospital Universitario Virgen del Rocio/Universidad de Sevilla, Sevilla, Spain.
authors.forename: Carmen
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Calero-Acuña
authors.affiliation: Servicio de Neumología, Instituto de Investigación Biomédica de Vigo (IBIV), Complexo Hospitalario de Vigo, Vigo, Spain.
authors.forename: Cristina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Represas-Represas
authors.affiliation: Unidad Médico-Quirúrgica de Enfermedades Respiratorias, Instituto de Biomedicina de Sevilla (IBiS), Hospital Universitario Virgen del Rocio/Universidad de Sevilla, Sevilla, Spain.
authors.forename: Cecilia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Lopez-Ramírez
authors.affiliation: Servicio de Neumología, Instituto de Investigación Biomédica de Vigo (IBIV), Complexo Hospitalario de Vigo, Vigo, Spain.
authors.forename: Virginia Leiro
authors.initials: VL
authors.lastname: Fernández
authors.affiliation: CIBER de Enfermedades Respiratorias (CIBERES), Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Madrid, Spain ; Servicio de Neumología Hospital Arnau de Vilanova, Valencia, Spain.
authors.forename: Juan Jose
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Soler-Cataluña
authors.affiliation: Departamento Médico de Novartis Farmacéutica, Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Ricard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Casamor
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D015897:Comorbidity; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003661:Decision Support Techniques; D018450:Disease Progression; D004417:Dyspnea / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000503:physiopathology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016014:Linear Models; D008168:Lung / Q000503:physiopathology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011379:Prognosis; D029424:Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000503:physiopathology; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013030:Spain / Q000453:epidemiology; D013147:Spirometry; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
keywords: chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases; comorbidities; multidimensional evaluation