The COPD Assessment Test in the evaluation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease exacerbations

Evaluation of: Mackay AJ, Donaldson GC, Patel AR, Jones PW, Hurst JR, Wedzicha JA. Usefulness of the Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Assessment Test to evaluate severity of COPD exacerbations. Am. J. Respir. Crit. Care Med. 185(11), 1218-1224 (2012). The health status of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is currently being assessed using several different questionnaires. One of them is the COPD Assessment Test (CAT), which is a quick and easy test for patients to complete and provides a score that indicates the impact of the disease on their health status. There is increasing evidence that the CAT is a promising tool to quantify COPD exacerbations. Accordingly, the CAT score can be a useful marker in clinical trials that evaluate the effectiveness of treatments in prevention or management of COPD exacerbations, or that investigate the disease progression over time. In the future, the CAT score could also be used as an outcome measure in clinical practice to track changes in patients' overall health status and to improve communication between patients and healthcare professionals.