• Morag Farquhar, Irene J Higginson, Petrea Fagan, and Sara Booth.
• Macmillan Post Doctoral Research Fellow, University of Cambridge, General Practice and Primary Care Research Unit, Department of Public Health & Primary Care, Institute of Public Health, Cambridge, England. mcf22@medschl.cam.ac.uk
• Palliat Support Care. 2010 Jun 1;8(2):143-9.

ObjectiveBreathlessness is the most common devastating symptom of advanced chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). The Breathlessness Intervention Service (BIS) is a multidisciplinary service that uses both pharmacological and non-pharmacological evidence-based interventions to reduce the impact of the symptom. The results of a Phase II evaluation of the service are reported.MethodPretest - posttest analysis of non-randomized data was performed for 13 patients with severe advanced COPD referred to BIS.ResultsMean VAS-Distress scores (primary outcome measure) decreased (improved) for the group between baseline and follow up suggesting a clinically significant improvement: 6.88 (SD = 2.50) to 5.25 (SD = 2.99). At an individual level, 11 of the 13 patients showed a decrease in their distress due to breathlessness, and for eight of these this was clinically significant (range of all decreases 0.3-7.1 cm). Changes in secondary outcome measures are also reported.Significance Of ResultsThe Breathlessness Intervention Service appears to reduce distress due to breathlessness among patients with advanced COPD. A Phase III fully-powered randomized controlled trial is warranted.

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