Minimal Clinically Important Difference in Barthel Index Dyspnea in Patients with COPD

Background The Barthel Index dyspnea (BId) is responsive to physiological changes and pulmonary rehabilitation in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). However, the minimum clinically important difference (MCID) has not been established yet. Aim To identify the MCID of BId in patients with COPD stratified according to the presence of chronic respiratory failure (CRF) or not. Materials and Methods Using the Medical Research Council (MRC) score as an anchor, receiver operating characteristic curves and quantile regression were retrospectively evaluated before and after pulmonary rehabilitation in 2327 patients with COPD (1151 of them with CRF). Results The median post-rehabilitation changes in BId for all patients were -10 (interquartile range = -17 to -3, p