• Olivier Sanchez, Aurore Caumont-Prim, Karine Gillet-Juvin, Etienne Callens, Semia Graba, Mohamed Essalhi, Brigitte Chevalier-Bidaud, Dominique Israël-Biet, Bruno Mahut, and Christophe Delclaux.
• AP-HP, Hôpital Européen Georges Pompidou, Service de Pneumologie, Paris, France.
• Respir Physiol Neurobiol. 2012 Jun 15; 182 (1): 18-25.

AbstractSensory (physiological) and affective (psychological) dimensions of dyspnea have been described but the usefulness of measuring psychological status in addition to ventilatory capacity (spirometry, lung volumes) in the assessment of exertional dyspnea remains controversial. We hypothesized that activity-related dyspnea would not be modified by psychological status. Principal component analysis (PCA) was used to reduce the number of parameters (psychological or functional) to fewer independent dimensions in 328 patients with altered ventilatory capacity: severe obesity (BMI ≥ 35, n = 122), COPD (n = 128) or interstitial lung disease (n = 78). PCA demonstrated that psychological status (Hospital Anxiety-Depression, Fatigue Impact scales) and dyspnea (Medical Research Council [MRC] scale) were independent dimensions. Ventilatory capacity was described by three main dimensions by PCA related to airways, volumes, and their combination (specific airway resistance, FEV(1)/FVC), which were weakly correlated with dyspnea. In conclusion, in patients with COPD, interstitial lung disease or severe obesity, psychological status does not modify activity-related dyspnea rating as evaluated by the MRC scale.Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

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