Clinicians to examine opportunities to confront dyspnea in COPD

Dyspnea is more than shortness of breath and discomfort—it can be part of a downward spiral accompanying COPD and can induce moments of crisis for those who experience it.

“Dyspnea can become a core feature affecting people’s lives,” said Muhammad A. Zafar, MD, MSc. “There are the biological changes in the lungs with COPD exacerbation, but many times the panicked phone call comes from a patient because they are out of breath, because they don’t know how to handle it, and because they fear what might happen in the next moments.”

Dr. Zafar, Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Cincinnati, will chair the CHEST 2025 session Confronting Dyspnea in COPD, on Tuesday, October 21, at 4 pm in McCormick Place, South Building, Room 402AB. In the session, he and three other respiratory experts will examine different aspects of diagnosing and responding to dyspnea.

Donald Mahler, MD, FCCP, will provide a general overview of the impact and mechanisms of dyspnea in COPD, as well as how it should be assessed in clinical settings and in research. Nicola Hanania, MS, MD, FCCP, will review opportunities and unmet needs of current pharmacological interventions and therapies for dyspnea in COPD, including inhalers, pills, oxygen therapies, and newer biologic approaches. Carolyn Rochester, MD, FCCP, will look at the role and effectiveness of various pulmonary rehabilitation and alternate exercise programs in dyspnea control, including yoga and tai chi. And Dr. Zafar will examine the effects of positive expiratory pressure devices and breathing techniques available to patients to help them through these moments of crisis.

Dr. Zafar said his goal for the session is to encourage clinicians to think of the range of therapies and techniques that can be applied in assessing patients and in helping them find what works best for their needs.

“Because dyspnea is such a central part of our patients’ lives, we as clinicians should make it a central piece of our assessments and see what tools are out there,” he said. “There are standards of care for dyspnea with strong evidence behind them, and there are other approaches that we might try and see if they work for our patients.”

 “Since dyspnea is a multimodal aspect of COPD, with many different problems happening in the lung, then our approach to dyspnea should also be multimodal,” he added. “We should try multiple tools, and if one is not working, then we should try something else to give our patients the best chance to successfully confront dyspnea.”