Table 1.

Signs of cognitive impairment: several symptoms may imply a cognitive dysfunction in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)

Memory loss that is unusually frequent for the age of the patient

Frequent word-finding pauses or substitutions

Frequently asking the same question or repeating the same story over and over again

Inability to recognise familiar people and places and lack of orientation

Trouble in exercising judgment and taking actions

Changes in mood or behaviour which are not conscious, isolation or misbehaviour

Trouble judging distances and seeing objects properly (not caused by poor eyesight)

Problems in completing step-by-step tasks and loss of executive function (planning, organising, reasoning)