Experience of a standardised method for assessing respiratory disability

A standardised method of scoring respiratory disability based on measurement and/or estimation of maximal oxygen uptake has recently been developed by the European Society for Clinical Respiratory Physiology. In the present study, we wanted to determine how the results obtained using this objective method compared with those by the more traditional empirical method used in a Medical Boarding Centre (MBC) for Respiratory Diseases. The subjects were 62 men who were claiming industrial injuries benefit on account of prior exposure to a respiratory hazard. The MBC ratings and the disability scores were correlated and, in the case of men with moderate or severe disability, numerically equivalent. The results provided independent confirmation that the MBC ratings were influenced by the forced expiratory volume, radiological category of pneumoconiosis and grade of breathlessness. In subjects in whom the measured and estimated maximal oxygen uptakes were inconsistent, the information obtained during the exercise test could identify which of several factors contributed to the exercise limitation. Since the new method might be expected to reduce the difficulties experienced in assessing respiratory disability, its use is recommended.