mMRC dyspnoea scale
Five grades from 0 to 4. GOLD treats 2 points as the threshold for a high symptom burden.
Updated · Methodology
About this calculator
The scale describes not how severe breathlessness feels at a given moment but how far it limits walking. The patient picks the statement that best matches an ordinary day, and the assessment ends there: it takes under a minute. In the GOLD classification, 2 points or more places a patient in the high-symptom group, which affects the choice of initial COPD therapy. The key limitation: mMRC measures one symptom. Cough, sputum, disturbed sleep and fatigue are not in it, which is why GOLD accepts the broader CAT questionnaire instead. The grade correlates weakly with spirometry: a patient with severely reduced FEV1 may score 1 if they have narrowed their activity and no longer meet exertion. Reduced mobility from other causes, from knee osteoarthritis to intermittent claudication, also raises the grade, and in that situation the scale stops describing the lungs. mMRC predicts survival in COPD well and enters the BODE index as a separate component.
Source
Formula version: bestall-1999-v1
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