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You are in: Home > Chest Information > Chest Conditions > Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease > How Will I Know If I Have COPD?

How Will I Know If I Have COPD?

• Diagnosing COPD
• Degrees of severity of COPD
• The Borg score

Diagnosing COPD

Your doctor will ask you about your symptoms and your smoking history. This, and a physical examination, can alert your GP or practice nurse to the possibility that you may have COPD.

The doctor will examine you by listening to your chest and looking at other parts of your body (such as your fingers and ankles) to exclude any other conditions that may be causing your symptoms.

You will need some tests and investigations. These can include:

• Sputum specimens
• Chest x–ray
• Heart tests
• Lung function tests: spirometry is the most important test in diagnosing COPD
• Blood tests
• Bronchoscopy

COPD tends to creep up on you. You may tolerate some symptoms for many years before they reach a level that make you go to your GP. You might not develop any symptoms until later life and put them down to 'getting older'. A diagnosis can often seem sudden. For example, when a chest infection won't go away and your doctor suggests further tests.

COPD is a chronic condition which will get worse as time goes by, but the good news is there are many things that can help to slow down this decline, manage your symptoms and allow you to get the most out of life.

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Degrees of severity of COPD

Spirometry is needed to assess how severe your COPD is.

However, it may be helpful for you to use a scale to try and assess / grade your symptoms.

The Medical Research Council Dyspnoea Scale (dyspnoea is medical term for shortness of breath / difficulty breathing) looks at how you feel your symptoms affect you.

Grade	Degree of breathlessness related to activities
1	Not troubled by breathlessness except on strenuous exercise.
2	Short of breath when hurrying or walking up slight hill.
3	Walks slower than others on the flat because of breathlessness, or has to stop for breath when walking at own pace.
4	Stops for breath after walking about 100 metres or after a few minutes on the flat.
5	Too breathless to leave the house, or breathless when dressing or undressing.

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The Borg Score

The Borg Score is a different tool that can be used to help you assess how breathless you are feeling at any one time. This can help you learn how to adjust your activity depending on how you are feeling.

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