CAT for Healthcare Professionals

For a number of reasons, patients with COPD tend to understate the overall severity of their condition, and how it impacts on their life, to those responsible for treating them.

A survey of 3,265 COPD patients, conducted in Europe and North America, revealed that there is a significant disparity between subjects’ perception of disease severity and the degree of severity indicated by a standardised breathlessness scale¹.

This may reflect a tendency by patients to accept their disease status as the best that can be expected and underestimate the degree to which their COPD can be improved.

This underestimation and/or understatement of the impact of COPD can contribute to sub-optimal management of COPD, by making it difficult for healthcare professionals to accurately assess the impact of a patient’s condition on their lives and assign treatment appropriately.

Video Clip 1: Professor Christine Jenkins discussing the fact that patients understate the impact of their illness.

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Reference

1. Rennard et al. European Respiratory Journal 2002; 20: 799-805.

Page Last Updated: April 25, 2012

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