Table 1.
Patients’ characteristics according to their breathlessness status
| Patients’ characteristics | Whole cohort (N = 120) |
Patients with severe breathlessness (mMRC ≥3) (N = 64) | Patients with Chronic breathlessness (N = 41) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Age (years) mean +/−SD | 66 +/− 6 | 64 +/−4 | 64 +/− 4 |
| Sex | |||
| Male N (%) | 69 (57%) | 40 (62%) | 26 (63%) |
| BMI (kg.m2) mean +/− SD | 29 +/− 4 | 24 +/−2 | 25 +/−2 |
| BMI > 30 kg.m2 N (%) | 52 (43%) | 27 (42%) | 14 (34%) |
| Smoking status | |||
| Non smoker N (%) | 2(2%) | 2 (3%) | 2 (5%) |
| Former smoker N (%) | 95 (79%) | 47 (73%) | 30 (73%) |
| Current smoker N (%) | 23 (19%) | 15 (24%) | 9 (22%) |
| Smoking (Pack/year) mean +/−SD | 40 +/− 12 | 38+/−8 | 40+/− 11 |
| FEV1 (% pred) mean +/− SD | 47 +/− 13 | 29 +/− 15* | 26 +/− 9* |
| GOLD spirometric grade | |||
| 1 N (%) | 3 (3%) | 1 (1%) | 1(2%) |
| 2 N (%) | 47 (39%) | 16 (25%)* | 5(12%)* |
| 3 N (%) | 18 (15%) | 5 (8%) | 2 (5%) |
| 4 N (%) | 52 (43%) | 42 (66%)* | 33(81%)* |
| Breathlessness: mMRC scale | |||
| 0 N (%) | 3 (2%) | 0 | 0 |
| 1 N (%) | 16 (13%) | 0 | 0 |
| 2 N (%) | 37 (31%) | 0 | 0 |
| 3 N (%) | 39 (32%) | 39 (61%)* | 18 (44%)* |
| 4 N (%) | 25 (21%) | 25 (39%)* | 23 (56%)* |
| Frequent exacerbations (≥2/year) N (%) | 49 (41%) | 30 (47%) | 20 (49%) |
BMI Body mass index, COPD Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, FEV1 Forced expiratory volume in 1 s, GOLD Global initiative for obstructive lung disease, mMRC Modified Medical Research Council, data were expressed as mean +/− SD, * p ≤ 0.05, in comparison with the whole cohort