Correlation of obstructive pulmonary disease assessement test with spirometric estimated lung age in tunisian patients of stable chronic obstructive pulmonay disease

Introduction: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), a fairly common pathology of the elderly, accelerates the decline of respiratory function and therefore pulmonary aging. It is, in addition one of the leading causes of alterating the quality of life. The aim of this study was to correlate health status in stable patients of COPD using COPD assessment test (CAT) with estimated lung age. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study conducted during four months. COPD was diagnosed according to GOLD guidelines, and patients were categorized for disease severity using spirometric parameters. Patients of stable COPD performed a spirometry and were subjected to CAT. Then, we estimated the lung age using : ELA (yr) = 42.85 _20.74 · FEV1 (L)+ 47.41 · BSA (m2) _ 0.62 · BMI (kg/m2) (Ben Saad, H. et al. Spirometric “Lung Age” estimation for North African population. Egypt. J. Chest Dis. Tuberc. 63, 491–503 (2014)) Results: Fourty two patients (males) were involved. The mean age, BMI and tobacco consumption of the study group were respectively 64 ± 10.23 years, 24.58 ± 5 kg/m² and 47.39 ± 33 PY. 11 (26.6%), 11 (26.6%), 11 (26.6%) and 9 (21.4%) participants were in each gold Stage 1-4 respectively. The mean CAT score was 19.23 ± 6.7 and the mean ELA was 80.16 ± 14.24 years. We found a statistically significant positive correlation (r = 0.761, P<0.0001) between CAT and ELA. Conclusion: Obstructive pulmonary disease assessement test (CAT) is sensitive in predicting the lung aging in tunisian patients of stable COPD.