• Yelda Varol, Rifat Ozacar, Gunseli Balci, Levent Usta, and Zuhre Taymaz.
• 1Dr. Suat Seren Chest Diseases Training and Research Hospital, Pulmonary Diseases, Dr. Suat Seren Chest Diseases Training and Research Hospital , Izmir , Turkey.
• COPD. 2014 Apr 1;11(2):221-5.

AimsThe CAT is a short, simple eight-item questionnaire for assessing and monitoring COPD. It is not known how reliable the CAT scores are for COPD patients who are frequently exacerbated. The effectiveness of the CAT for assessing COPD severity and exacerbation rates was evaluated.MethodsThis study enrolled 165 stable COPD patients who completed the CAT between April 2011 and February 2012.ResultsPatients had a mean forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1) equal to 43.7% of the predicted value and a mean CAT score of 21.2 (± 7.56) units. There was a good association between the FEV1 (percentage of predicted value) and CAT scores (p < 0.0001). Frequent exacerbators had significantly higher CAT scores than infrequent exacerbators (24.8 ± 6.7 versus 17.5 ± 6.5, p < 0.0001). Also, as the frequency of the COPD exacerbations increased, CAT scores (p < 0.0001) significantly increased. There was a significant association between the frequency of hospitalization and the CAT scores (p = 0.001).ConclusionsWe observed a good relation between the CAT, FEV 1, and disease severity in patients with COPD. We found that the baseline CAT scores are elevated in frequent exacerbators.

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