[Descriptors of breathlessness in Mexican Spanish]

Health Related Quality of Life in Interstitial Lung Disease: Can We Use the Same Concepts Around the World?

Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQOL) is increasingly viewed as an important patient-centered outcome by leading health organizations, clinicians, and patients alike. This is especially true in the interstitial lung disease community where patients often struggle with progressive and debilitating disease with few therapeutic options. In order to test the effectiveness of new pharmacologic therapies and non-pharmacologic interventions globally in ILD, this will require expansion of clinical research studies to a multinational level and HRQOL will be an important endpoint to many. In order to successfully expand trials across multiple nations and compare the results of studies between different communities we must recognize that there are differences in the concepts of HRQOL across the world and have strategies to address these differences. In this review, we will describe the different global influences on HRQOL both generally and in the context of ILD, discuss the processes of linguistic translation and cross-cultural adaptation of HRQOL Patient Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs), and highlight the gaps and opportunities for improving HRQOL measurement in ILD across the world.

Patient-centered Outcomes Research in Interstitial Lung Disease: An Official American Thoracic Society Research Statement

Background: In the past two decades, many advances have been made to our understanding of interstitial lung disease (ILD) and the way we approach its treatment. Despite this, many questions remain unanswered, particularly those related to how the disease and its therapies impact outcomes that are most important to patients. There is currently a lack of guidance on how to best define and incorporate these patient-centered outcomes in ILD research. Objectives: To summarize the current state of patient-centered outcomes research in ILD, identify gaps in knowledge and research, and highlight opportunities and methods for future patient-centered research agendas in ILD. Methods: An international interdisciplinary group of experts was assembled. The group identified top patient-centered outcomes in ILD, reviewed available literature for each outcome, highlighted important discoveries and knowledge gaps, and formulated research recommendations. Results: The committee identified seven themes around patient-centered outcomes as the focus of the statement. After a review of the literature and expert committee discussion, we developed 28 research recommendations. Conclusions: Patient-centered outcomes are key to ascertaining whether and how ILD and interventions used to treat it affect the way patients feel and function in their daily lives. Ample opportunities exist to conduct additional work dedicated to elevating and incorporating patient-centered outcomes in ILD research.

Inspiring change: humanities and social science insights into the experience and management of breathlessness

PURPOSE OF REVIEW

Breathlessness can be debilitating for those with chronic conditions, requiring continual management. Yet, the meaning of breathlessness for those who live with it is poorly understood in respect of its subjective, cultural, and experiential significance. This article discusses a number of current issues in understanding the experience of breathlessness.

RECENT FINDINGS

Effective communication concerning the experience of breathlessness is crucial for diagnosis, to identify appropriate treatment, and to provide patients with the capacity to self-manage their condition. However, there is an evident disconnect between the way breathlessness is understood between clinical and lay perspectives, in terms of awareness of breathlessness, the way symptoms are expressed, and acknowledgement of how it affects the daily lives of patients.

SUMMARY

The review highlights the need for integrated multidisciplinary work on breathlessness, and suggests that effective understanding and management of breathlessness considers its wider subjective and social significance.

Dyspnea descriptors translated from English to Portuguese: application in obese patients and in patients with cardiorespiratory diseases

OBJECTIVE

To investigate the usefulness of descriptive terms applied to the sensation of dyspnea (dyspnea descriptors) that were developed in English and translated to Brazilian Portuguese in patients with four distinct clinical conditions that can be accompanied by dyspnea.

METHODS

We translated, from English to Brazilian Portuguese, a list of 15 dyspnea descriptors reported in a study conducted in the USA. Those 15 descriptors were applied in 50 asthma patients, 50 COPD patients, 30 patients with heart failure, and 50 patients with class II or III obesity. The three best descriptors, as selected by the patients, were studied by cluster analysis. Potential associations between the identified clusters and the four clinical conditions were also investigated.

RESULTS

The use of this set of descriptors led to a solution with nine clusters, designated expiração (exhalation), fome de ar (air hunger), sufoco (suffocating), superficial (shallow), rápido (rapid), aperto (tight), falta de ar (shortness of breath), trabalho (work), and inspiração (inhalation). Overlapping of the descriptors was quite common among the patients, regardless of their clinical condition. Asthma, COPD, and heart failure were significantly associated with the inspiração cluster. Heart failure was also associated with the trabalho cluster, whereas obesity was not associated with any of the clusters.

CONCLUSIONS

In our study sample, the application of dyspnea descriptors translated from English to Portuguese led to the identification of distinct clusters, some of which were similar to those identified in a study conducted in the USA. The translated descriptors were less useful than were those developed in Brazil regarding their ability to generate significant associations among the clinical conditions investigated here.

Dyspnea descriptors developed in Brazil: application in obese patients and in patients with cardiorespiratory diseases

OBJECTIVE

To develop a set of descriptive terms applied to the sensation of dyspnea (dyspnea descriptors) for use in Brazil and to investigate the usefulness of these descriptors in four distinct clinical conditions that can be accompanied by dyspnea.

METHODS

We collected 111 dyspnea descriptors from 67 patients and 10 health professionals. These descriptors were analyzed and reduced to 15 based on their frequency of use, similarity of meaning, and potential pathophysiological value. Those 15 descriptors were applied in 50 asthma patients, 50 COPD patients, 30 patients with heart failure, and 50 patients with class II or III obesity. The three best descriptors, as selected by the patients, were studied by cluster analysis. Potential associations between the identified clusters and the four clinical conditions were also investigated.

RESULTS

The use of this set of descriptors led to a solution with seven clusters, designated sufoco (suffocating), aperto (tight), rápido (rapid), fadiga (fatigue), abafado (stuffy), trabalho/inspiração (work/inhalation), and falta de ar (shortness of breath). Overlapping of descriptors was quite common among the patients, regardless of their clinical condition. Asthma was significantly associated with the sufoco and trabalho/inspiração clusters, whereas COPD and heart failure were associated with the sufoco, trabalho/inspiração, and falta de ar clusters. Obesity was associated only with the falta de ar cluster.

CONCLUSIONS

In Brazil, patients who are accustomed to perceiving dyspnea employ various descriptors in order to describe the symptom, and these descriptors can be grouped into similar clusters. In our study sample, such clusters showed no usefulness in differentiating among the four clinical conditions evaluated.

The language of breathlessness differentiates between patients with COPD and age-matched adults

BACKGROUND

If descriptors of the sensation of breathlessness are able to differentiate between medical conditions, the language of breathlessness could potentially have a role in differential diagnosis. This study investigated whether the language used to describe the sensation of breathlessness accurately categorized older individuals with and without a prior diagnosis of COPD.

METHODS

Using a parallel-group design, participants with and without a prior diagnosis of COPD volunteered words and phrases and endorsed up to three statements to describe their sensation of breathlessness. Cluster analysis (v-fold cross-validation) was applied, and subjects were clustered by their choice of words. Cluster membership was then compared to original group membership (COPD vs non-COPD), and predictive power was assessed.

RESULTS

Groups were similar for age and gender (COPD, n = 94; 48 men; mean age, 70 +/- 10 years [+/- SD]; vs non-COPD, n = 55; 21 men; mean age, 69 +/- 13 years) but differed significantly in breathlessness-related impairment, intensity, and quality of life (p < 0.0001). Cluster membership corresponded accurately with original group classifications (volunteered, 85%; and up to three statements, 68% agreement). Classification based on a single best descriptor (volunteered [62%] or endorsed [55%]) was less accurate for group membership.

CONCLUSIONS

Language used to describe the sensation of breathlessness differentiated people with and without a prior diagnosis of COPD when descriptors were not limited to a single best word or statement.

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in Hispanics

Hispanics are individuals whose ancestry can be traced to Spain and/or areas previously under Spanish control (e.g., Mexico, Puerto Rico). They are a rapidly growing subset of the population of the United States and are quite diverse in their racial ancestry, country of origin, area of residence, socioeconomic status, tobacco use, and access to health care. Current evidence suggests that the prevalence and morbidity of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) vary widely among Hispanic-American nations, with similar but limited findings among Hispanic subgroups in the United States. Potential reasons for such variation include differences in racial ancestry and genetic susceptibility, exposure to tobacco smoke and/or biomass smoke, access to health care, and disease management. Future studies of COPD in Hispanics should include large samples of subgroups that are well defined with regard to self-reported ethnicity, country of origin, area of residence, tobacco use, and socioeconomic status. Areas that need to be carefully examined include validation of COPD diagnoses for epidemiologic studies (e.g., by radiologic assessment), COPD in high-risk groups (e.g., Puerto Ricans), impact of biomass smoke (in rural areas) and air pollution (in urban areas) on COPD morbidity, effects of migration and acculturation on COPD prevalence and morbidity among Hispanic subgroups in the United States, development of reference values for spirometry, smoking cessation, and overcoming barriers to management. Public health measures, such as effective smoking prevention and cessation programs, reduction of air pollution and exposure to biomass smoke, and improved access to health care, would help reduce the burden of COPD among Hispanics in the United States and Latin America.