ackground : Although the pulmonary function tests have been widely used as the methods to investigate the dyspneic patients with respiratory disease, it has often been found that the correlation between the lung function and the degree of
subjective
sense of dyspnea is not so good. And so, various methods of categorizing subjective assessment of dyspnea severity have been developed, and this study was conducted to determine the usefuless of these methods in the evaluation of dyspneic
patients
with
respiratory diseases.
Methods : Clinical or psychophysical dyspnea indices {modified Medical Research Council
(MRC) scale, Oxygen-Cost Diagram (OCD), Baseline Dyspnea Index (BDI), modified Borg
category scale (Borg) and the distance walked in 12 minutes (12MW)} and pulmonary
function were measured in 29 consecutive patients with respiratory diseases, who were
referred to the clinical pulmonary function laboratory of Chonnam University Hospital from
June 1991 to September 1992.
Results : The ratings for the modified MRC, OCD, BDI Borg, and 12 MW were related
significantly each other. However, the relationship between lung function and dyspnea indices
were weak. The correlation between the results of two attempts of 12 minute walking test in
individual patients was high(r=0.94, p<0.001) but the distance walked on the second occasion
was significantly greater(p<0.05). In 10 patients rested at least once during their attemt the
distance to the first stop correlated well with the total distance covered in 12 minutes(r=0.91,
p<0.005).
Conclusion : These results suggest that the various methods for rating dyspnea are
interrelated and reproducible, but those were related weakly to lung function and may yield
the independent useful information. And the use of the distance to the first stop in 12 minute
walking test may not compromise the value of the test in patients with severe disability.
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