Identifying Abnormal Exertional Breathlessness in COPD: Comparing Modified Medical Research Council and COPD Assessment Test With Cardiopulmonary Exercise Testing

COPD management is guided by the respiratory symptom burden, assessed using the modified Medical Research Council (mMRC) scale, the COPD Assessment Test (CAT), or both. What are the abilities of mMRC and CAT to detect abnormally high exertional breathlessness on incremental cardiopulmonary cycle exercise testing (CPET) in people with COPD? Analysis of people ≥ 40 years of age with FEV to FVC ratio of < 0.70 after bronchodilator administration and ≥ 10 pack-years of smoking from the Canadian Cohort Obstructive Lung Disease study. Abnormal exertional breathlessness was defined as a breathlessness (Borg scale 0-10) intensity rating more than the upper limit of normal at the symptom-limited peak of CPET using normative reference equations. We included 318 people with COPD (40% women) with a mean (SD) age of 66.5 (9.3) years and FEV of 79.5% predicted (19.0% predicted); 26% showed abnormally low exercise capacity (peak oxygen uptake less than the lower limit of normal). Abnormally high exertional breathlessness was present in 24%, including 9% and 11% of people with mMRC score of 0 and CAT score of < 10, respectively. An mMRC score of ≥ 2 and CAT score of ≥ 10 was most specific (95%) to detect abnormal exertional breathlessness, but showed low sensitivity of only 12%. Accuracy for all scale cutoffs or combinations was < 65%. Compared with people with true-negatives findings, people with abnormal exertional breathlessness but low mMRC score, low CAT scores (false-negatives findings), or both showed worse self-reported and physiologic outcomes during CPET, were more likely to have physician-diagnosed COPD, but were not more likely to be taking any respiratory medication (37% vs 30%; mean difference, 6.1%; 95% CI, -7.2 to 19.4; P= .36). In COPD, mMRC and CAT show low concordance with CPET and fail to identify many people with abnormally high exertional breathlessness. ClinicalTrials.gov; No.: NCT00920348; URL: www. gov.