[Respiratory domain of revised amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Functional Rating Scale]

Virtually all patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis will complain of dyspnea, which is perhaps the most distressing symptom of this devastating disease. The objective was to correlate respiratory domain of ALSFRS-R with forced vital capacity and maximal static pressures in the mouth. We designed a prospective study in 20 consecutive patients without dyspnea during 24 months. The global decline of ALSFRS-R was from 34.3 +/- 10.3 to 22.1 +/- 8.0 (p = 0.0325), the contribution of respiratory domain was irrelevant. Those who referred dyspnea (n: 12), forced vital capacity fell 41 +/- 21% of the initial value but with similar value of fall (46 +/- 23%) 8 patients did not referred dyspnea. Total score of ALSFRS-R correlated with forced vital capacity (litres), r: 0.73, p = 0.0016 and maximal inspiratory pressure (cm H2O), r: 0.84, p = 0.0038, but the fall of the forced vital capacity (%) did not correlate with dyspnea (r(s): 0.23, p = 0.1400). There was a moderate correlation between dyspnea and maximal inspiratory pressure (%), r(s): 0.58, p = 0.0300 and between dyspnea and maximal expiratory pressure (%), r(s): 0.49, p = 0.0400. We concluded that the respiratory functional deterioration could not be predicted using respiratory domain of ALSFRS-R. This suggests that respiratory domain of this scale does not replace to respiratory function testing measurements and, due to the respiratory insufficiency could not be clinically evident; performing pulmonary function tests provides an objective view and permit to make anticipatory actions.