Differences between absolute and predicted values of forced expiratory volumes to classify ventilatory impairment in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

The Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) severity criterion for COPD is used widely in clinical and research settings; however, it requires the use of ethnic- or population-specific reference equations. We propose two alternative severity criteria based on absolute post-bronchodilator FEV₁ values (FEV₁ and FEV₁/height²) that do not depend on reference equations. We compared the accuracy of these classification schemasto those based on % predicted values (GOLD criterion) and Z-scores of post-bronchodilator FEV₁ to predict COPD-related functional outcomes or percent emphysema by computerized tomography of the lung. We tested the predictive accuracy of all severity criteria for the 6-minute walk distance (6MWD), St. George's Respiratory Questionnaire (SGRQ), 36-item Short-Form Health Survey physical health component score (SF-36) and the MMRC Dyspnea Score. We used 10-fold cross-validation to estimate average prediction errors and Bonferroni-adjusted t-tests to compare average prediction errors across classification criteria. We analyzed data of 3772 participants with COPD (average age 63 years, 54% male). Severity criteria based on absolute post-bronchodilator FEV₁ or FEV₁/height² yielded similar prediction errors for 6MWD, SGRQ, SF-36 physical health component score, and the MMRC Dyspnea Score when compared to the GOLD criterion (all p > 0.34); and, had similar predictive accuracy when compared with the Z-scores criterion, with the exception for 6MWD where post-bronchodilator FEV₁ appeared to perform slightly better than Z-scores (p = 0.01). Subgroup analyses did not identify differences across severity criteria by race, sex, or age between absolute values and the GOLD criterion or one based on Z-scores. Severity criteria for COPD based on absolute values of post-bronchodilator FEV₁ performed equally as well as did criteria based on predicted values when benchmarked against COPD-related functional and structural outcomes, are simple to use, and may provide a more accessible and comparable approach to severity classification worldwide, especially in settings where prediction equations are not available.