Breathlessness Perception In COPD: Relationship With Exacerbation Frequency

Background: Breathlessness perception varies significantly among patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Some of them are prone to frequent exacerbations. Aims and objectives: We hypothesized that COPD patients with higher dyspnea perception report more exacerbations than those with unfrequent exacerbations, independently of their severity of airflow limitation. Accordingly, our aim was to compare the perception of dyspnea in clinically stable COPD patients with a history of frequent (≥1/hospitalization/year) or unfrequent (≤1/year/without hospitalization) exacerbations. Methods: We measured the resting mouth occlusion pressure (P 01 ), the ventilatory response (ΔVE/ΔPetCO2), and the dyspnea perception using the Borg scale during a hyperoxic CO 2 -rebreathing test. Results: We evaluated 34 COPD patients (29 males, 65±9 years), 14 (41%) with frequent exacerbations and 20 (59%) without them, and 10 healthy controls (8 males, 63±6 years). Table shows the main results. Conclusions: Results support our working hypothesis and show that frequent exacerbators have a different symptom perception than unfrequent ones, which could be related to the increased central output.