Health status and prognosis of COPD patients in relation to the FEV1/FVC ratio

npj Primary Care Respiratory Medicine 2026 Open access

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Authors: Juan Wang, Björn Ställberg, Maria Hårdstedt, Kristina Bröms, Amir Farkhooy, Andreas Palm, Karin Lisspers, M Högman, Andrei Malinovschi
DOI: 10.1038/s41533-025-00478-y
Cited by: 3
References: 30

Abstract

Abstract Whether COPD should be diagnosed using the lower limit of normal (LLN) or a fixed FEV 1 /FVC ratio 0.05. Moreover, comparable prevalence of exacerbations and hospital admissions were found during the subsequent three years (31.7 vs 37.7%, and 4.8 vs 2.6%, respectively, all p-values > 0.05). Symptom burden was comparable for mMRC and CCQ, but the FR + /LLN- group had a higher CAT score than the FR + /LLN+ group (10.6 vs 12.6, p = 0.038), a finding also confirmed in adjusted analyses. FR + /LLN+ and FR + /LLN- COPD patients had relatively comparable symptom and disease burden, suggesting that not meeting the LLN criteria does not indicate a milder disease in clinically diagnosed COPD with comparable FEV 1 .

Fields of Study & Subjects

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) Research Respiratory and Cough-Related Research Obstructive Sleep Apnea Research

Publication details

Journal / source
npj Primary Care Respiratory Medicine
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Volume
36
Issue
1
Pages
4–4
Publication date
8 January 2026
Language
EN