The 6 minutes walking test (6MW) and the measurement of dyspnoea using Medical Research Council modified scale (mMRC) for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) allow an integrated diagnostic of severity, deficiencies and disability of active age, stable COPD patient, assisting the physician to create an adequate rehabilitation programme. The descriptive and prospective study that covered the period January 2008 - October 2010 aimed to determine the existing relationship between the dyspnoea degree, the 6 minutes walking test and the degree of severity of COPD patients, evaluated against GOLD stages.
Method and subjects: In a sample of 105 eligible COPD patients, aged 44 to 65, we measured the degree of severity of COPD using GOLD staging, mMRC dyspnea scale and 6MWT.
Results: The GOLD stages have a very strong correlation to dyspnoea degree measured by mMRC scale. The GOLD stages are moderately correlated with the distance covered in 6MWT. The dyspnoea degrees are strongly correlated with the distance covered in the 6MWT.
Conclusions: The dyspnoea degree measured by the mMRC scale allows the evaluation of the severity and also the disability of the COPD patient. The 6MWT allows the measurement of the disease severity and prognosis by the distance covered and also the effort endurance revealing the disability degree.