Pneumologie
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Functional capacity (dyspnea) and quality of life are important criteria for the assessment of disease impact and treatment outcome in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). We will review measures for dyspnea and quality of life with particular emphasis on their methodological properties. Because asthma and COPD exhibit important differences and are therefore not comparable, we discuss only those measures which have been verified methodologically in patients with COPD. ⋯ Nowadays we can rely on several measures for dyspnea and HRQOL which have been thoroughly verified methodologically in COPD patients. However, some disease-specific and generic instruments exhibit substantial flaws, so that they need to be revised and it seems better not to use them at present. Many methodological and conceptual questions remain unanswered in the field indicating a strong need for more research.