Table 2.
Characteristics of Episodes of Breathlessness
| |
Number of episodes na |
|
|---|---|---|
| Characteristic | n (%)a | n (%) cumulative |
| Peak severity (modified Borg Scale [0–10]) | n=146 | NA |
| mean (SD) 6.5 (2.4) | ||
| Durationb | n=141 (100%) | |
| Seconds | 10 (7.1%) | 10 (7.1%) |
| 1–5 minutes | 63 (44.7%) | 73 (51.8%) |
| 6–10 minutes | 33 (23.4%) | 106 (75.2%) |
| 11–20 minutes | 22 (15.6%) | 128 (90.8%) |
| 21–60 minutes | 7 (5.0%) | 135 (95.7%) |
| Hours | 6 (4.3%) | 141 (100.0%) |
| median (range) 1–5 minutes (seconds –hours) | ||
| Frequency | n=38 (100%)c | |
| 1–3/hour | 1 (2.6%) | 1 (2.6%) |
| 11–23/day | 1 (2.6%) | 2 (5.3%) |
| 1–10/day | 21 (55.3%) | 23 (60.5%) |
| 1–6/week | 11 (29.0%) | 34 (89.5%) |
| <1 week | 2 (5.3%) | 36 (94.7%) |
| 1–3/month | 2 (5.3%) | 38 (100.0%) |
| Time of occurrence | n=176 (100%) | |
| At night | 6 (3%) | NA |
| During the day | 147 (84%) | |
| Both | 23 (13%) | |
a
Total number of episodes was higher than number of patients, because 40 patients experienced different manifestations of episodes, and characteristics were assessed for each, separately. In addition, few patients described each characteristic of their episodes and, thus, total numbers of episodes vary per characteristic.
b
For additional six episodes, patients could not report numbers but ranged the duration as follows: seconds (1), minutes (4), hours (1).
c
The low number of episodes relates to the difficulty of most patients to determine the frequency of a triggered episode (e.g., by exertion) as “it depends what I am doing.”
NA, not applicable