Medpedia

Exacerbations are a major cause of morbidity and mortality in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), leading to dramatic reductions in quality of life and expensive emergency room visits and hospitalizations. To date, there has been no standard, validated method for defining or evaluating these events in clinical trials, limiting scientific understanding of these events and the effect of treatment.

Since detection of exacerbations is dependent on a patient's decision to contact their health care provider in response to worsening symptoms, and the decision to alter treatment is largely based on patient report, it is logical and desirable to standardize these assessments through a patient-reported outcome (PRO) instrument. The EXAcerbations of Chronic Pulmonary Disease Tool (EXACT) was developed as a daily diary based on COPD patients' descriptions of their exacerbations with input from experts in pulmonary medicine.

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