ResearchUsefulness of the modified 0-10 Borg scale in assessing the degree of dyspnea in patients with COPD and asthma*
Section snippets
Methods
This retrospective chart review study was conducted at the emergency department and urgent care clinic at the VA San Diego Health Care System in San Diego, Calif. The MBS was added to the clinical protocol for management of patients with acute bronchospasm (Figure 2).According to the protocol, the MBS was administered by the
Results
Of the 400 charts initially selected for complaint of dyspnea, 102 patients met the inclusion criteria. The patients who were excluded had diagnoses of flu (n = 199), bronchitis (n = 29), congestive heart failure (n = 33), and pneumonia (n = 37).
Participants were all men between the ages of 24 and 87 (mean age, 59 years). Forty-two patients were diagnosed with asthma and 60 had COPD. The attending ED physician evaluated all patients after they were triaged and ordered β2-agonist albuterol with
Discussion
Our data suggest that the MBS can be used in the emergency department as an accurate tool to measure subjective dyspnea in patients with acute bronchospasm. In addition, we demonstrated that it correlated well with other clinical parameters often used in the emergency department.
An unintentional discovery in this study was that the type of respiratory treatment prescribed by the physician(s) did not influence the patients’ subjective rating of dyspnea. This fact further strengthened our belief
Conclusion
This study was limited to a relatively small group of adult men with bronchospasm who were treated and released from an emergency department or urgent care clinic. An expanded study with a general population might reveal even higher correlation scores and could generate valuable outcome measures that could have a positive impact on how we assess, treat, and document the common sensory description of having dyspnea or shortness of breath. We believe that the MBS can be an invaluable clinical
Acknowledgements
We thank Marty Shively, RN, PhD, for her endless support and encouragement.
References (13)
- et al.
Evaluation of clinical methods for rating dyspnea
Chest
(1988) - et al.
Variability of breathlessness measurement in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
Chest
(1991) - et al.
Reproducibility of Borg scale measurements of dyspnea during exercise in patients with COPD
Chest
(1995) - et al.
The language of breathlessness
Am Rev Respir Dis
(1991) - et al.
Use of magnitude estimation for estimating the parameters of dyspnea
Nurs Res
(1989) Psychophysical bases of perceived exertion
Med Sci Sports Exerc
(1982)
Cited by (257)
Short-Term Health Outcomes of a Structured Pulmonary Rehabilitation Program Implemented Within Rural Canadian Sites Compared With an Established Urban Site: A Pre-Post Intervention Observational Study
2023, Archives of Physical Medicine and RehabilitationIs the six-minute step test able to reflect the severity and symptoms based on cat score?
2023, Heart and LungCitation Excerpt :Before the test, the volunteers remained seated for two minutes at rest and two minutes of standing to record baseline heart rate (HR), blood pressure (BP), and peripheral oxygen saturation (SpO2). Breathlessness and leg effort scores were rated according to the 10-point Borg category ratio.15 The steps numbers (SN) were counted from the beginning to the end of the time of 6 minutes.
The role of the physiotherapist in the assessment and management of dyspnea
2023, Revue des Maladies Respiratoires
- *
For reprints, write: Karla R. Kendrick, RN, MSN, 4982 Marin Dr, Oceanside, CA 92056.