PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Phillippa Marns
AU  - Karen Ingram
AU  - Ria Fowler
AU  - Claire Nolan
AU  - Amy Clark
AU  - Nicholas Hopkinson
AU  - Michael Polkey
AU  - Jane Canavan
AU  - William Man
TI  - Long-term changes in the COPD assessment test (CAT) after pulmonary rehabilitation
DP  - 2011 Sep 01
TA  - European Respiratory Journal
PG  - p3625
VI  - 38
IP  - Suppl 55
4099  - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/38/Suppl_55/p3625.short
4100  - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/38/Suppl_55/p3625.full
SO  - Eur Respir J2011 Sep 01; 38
AB  - Introduction: The COPD assessment test (CAT) is a recently introduced, validated, patient-completed quality of life instrument that is immediately responsive to pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) [1]. The long-term effects of PR on the CAT, and whether these changes relate to more established health status instruments, are not known. We hypothesised that long-term improvements in CAT (reduced score) following PR would correlate with improvements in the self-report Chronic Respiratory Disease Questionnaire (CRDQ-SR) total score (increased score).Method: The CAT and CRDQ-SR were recorded in 39 COPD patients before (T1), immediately after (T2) and 6-months after (T3) an 8 week outpatient PR program. On completion of the PR course, patients were offered individualised exercise advice and goal-setting, but no formal supervised exercise training. Changes in CAT and CRDQ-SR were compared from T1 to T2 and from T1 to T3. Spearman's Rank correlation was used to assess the relationship between changes in CAT and CRDQ-SR between T1 and T3.Results: Mean (SD) age was 72 (7) and FEV1%predicted was 47 (19)%. CAT and CRDQ-SR scores at T2 and T3 were significantly improved compared to corresponding scores at T1.T1-T3 changes in CAT correlated significantly with changes in CRDQ-SR: r= -0.40; p=0.01.Conclusion: Following PR, short and long-term changes in CAT score mirror the CRDQ-SR.References:1. Dodd, JW. Thorax 2011, accepted for publication.