Changes in health condition of COPD patients measured by the COPD Assessment Test (CAT), during a supervised pulmonary rehabilitation program (SPRP) in 5 centers in Colombia
<b>Introduction:</b> The CAT measures the impact of COPD, and improves after a pulmonary rehabilitation programs (Jones PW, et al Chest. 2012;142(1):134-40, Gupta N et al. Eur Respir J 2014; 44: 873–884). However, there is little evidence of how it changes through the program. We conducted a study to assess how the CAT changes during a SPRP. <b>Methods:</b> Cross-sectional multicentric study. We include COPD patients over 40 years old who consecutively entered the SPRP and completed at least 18 sessions in 10 weeks or less. CAT before, in sessions 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18, 21, 24, and two weeks after the program. Repeated samples to assess the weekly variation of intra-subject CAT. <b>Results:</b> 55 patients, male 52.7%; aged average 68.6 (SD+/- 8.1) FEV1: 47.9%(+/-18,8), FEV1< 50%:63.6%, SpO2: 89.6%(+/- 4.6). CAT score decreased and the proportion of patients classified as low impact (CAT<10) increase between weeks 3 and 15, both with minor changes between week 15 and 18. (table 1). CAT improved more than the minimum clinically significant difference (>=2) in 87% of the patients <b>Conclusions:</b> The CAT progressively decreased from session 3 to 15 of SPRP and it remained stable from sessions 15 to 24.
Tópico:
Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) Research