Document Type

Article

Publication Date

7-29-2019

Description

Assessing the global impact of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) on a patient’s life can be difficult to perform in the clinical setting due to time constraints and workflow challenges. The primary objective of this study was to compare disease impact ratings between patient selfadministered COPD Assessment Test (CAT) and physician standard office assessment. This prospective study was conducted at a family medicine residency clinic in northeast Tennessee. The study included two study groups: 1) adult patients seen at the clinic during the 3-month study period with an active diagnosis of COPD, and 2) their physicians. Physicians’ assessment of the impact of COPD on their patients’ daily lives was compared to patients’ self-administered CAT assessments. Physician assessment of COPD impact and patient ssessment of CAT categories significantly differed (χ2 =11.0, P=0.012). There was very poor agreement between patient and physician ratings (κ=0.003), with 42.9% of physician ratings underestimating the impact, 28.6% overestimating the impact, and 28.6% orrectly estimating the impact COPD had on their patients’ lives. These findings support the use of validated assessment tools to help providers understand the symptom burden for patients with COPD.

Copyright Statement

Copyright Aurora Health Care, Inc. Authors are permitted to post the article on a non-commercial open access institutional repository.

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