Facultad de Medicina · 2025

Correlation between clinical scales for assessing dyspnea in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease at high altitude

Resumen

OBJECTIVE: To determine the correlation between different scales used to assess dyspnea in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and asthma. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and asthma who had been hospitalized, at least, once due to an exacerbation, at a medical center located at high altitude from January to December 2024. The Visual Analog Dyspnea Scale (VADS), Modified Medical Research Council (mMRC), the Numerical Rating Scale (NRS), and the Borg scale were applied. RESULTS: A total of 200 patients were included, of whom 50% had chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and 50% had asthma. The mean age of the participants was 54.1 ± 19.1 years and 47.5% were men. The scales that showed the strongest correlations were the NRS and VADS scales with 0.73 (95% CI: 0.65-0.78; p < 0.001), the Borg scale and mMRC with a correlation of 0.71 (95% CI: 0.62-0.76; p < 0.001), and the Borg scale and VADS with a correlation of 0.70 (95% CI: 0.62-0.76; p < 0.001). CONCLUSION: The NRS and VADS scales, the Borg scale and mMRC, as well as the Borg scale and VADS showed a strong correlation. The results of this study suggest that the mMRC, VADS and Borg scales are interchangeable, supporting the possibility of using different dyspnea assessment tools equivalently.