COPD symptoms in the morning - including dyspnoea and sputum production - affect patients’ quality of life and limit their ability to carry out even simple morning activities, according to a clinical review published today in Respiratory Research.
The review found all COPD symptoms were more frequent and severe in patients with symptoms in the morning than in those without, with symptom scores of breathlessness and chest tightness significantly increased in patients experiencing symptoms in the morning.
It also points out that patients particularly bothered by morning symptoms have greater variablity in breathlessness throughout the week which appears to make them more likely to exacerbate. So patients with particularly bad morning symptoms may be among those with the so-called 'frequent exacerbator phenotype'.
