Defining patient-reported outcomes in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: the patient-centered experience.

Abstract

Patients with COPD have reduced HRQOL, and HRQOL worsens as COPD progresses.Although long-term interventions such as smoking cessation, supplemental oxygen therapy for hypoxemia, LVRS, and lung transplantation may save lives, these and other therapies have variable but important effects on PROs. Measures of HRQOL can serve as measures of disease severity and predict outcome. Moreover, these measures are sensitive to change following interventions, and can thus be used as measures of intervention effect. Future research will provide a better understanding of the effects of COPD on HRQOL and the impact of various interventions.