Fig 1.
The classification combines the symptomatic assessment with the patients’ spirometric classification and/or risk of exacerbations, resulting in 4 quadrants. To classify patients first symptoms should be assessed with the mMRC, CAT or CCQ scale and investigator should determine if the patient belongs to the left (less symptoms) or right (more symptoms) side of the box. Next the risk of exacerbations should be assessed to determine if the patient belongs to the lower part of the box (low risk) or the upper part of the box (higher risk). When assessing symptoms the mMRC, CAT or the CCQ scale can be used; when assessing risk the highest risk according to GOLD grade or exacerbation history should be chosen.
Table 1.
Patient characteristics.
Table 2.
Patient characteristics across the different GOLD quadrants using mMRC, CAT or CCQ score to define symptoms experience.
Fig 2.
Physical activity across different GOLD classifications.
GOLD = Spirometric GOLD classification; mMRC = combined assessment using mMRC; CAT = combined assessment using CAT; CCQ = combined assessment using CCQ; Significant differences (post hoc analysis) are indicated with a solid line.
Fig 3.
Physical activity across different mMRC, CAT and CCQ cut-offs.
Upper panels present physical activity data, significant differences (post hoc analysis) are indicated with a solid line; lower panels depict proportion of patients defined as sedentary (black bars). Dotted line present cut off used in the GOLD classification; A/C and B/D indicate respectively quadrants A or C and B or D.
Fig 4.
Patient distribution across the different GOLD classifications.
The size of the squares represent the patient distribution relative to quadrant A. mMRC = combined assessment using mMRC; CAT = combined assessment using CAT; CCQ = combined assessment using CCQ.
Table 3.
Frequency distribution of patients according to different GOLD classifications.