Physical status, symptoms and health-related quality of life during a severe exacerbation of COPD: Recovery and discriminative capacity for future events.

Objective: Severe acute exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (AECOPD) can have a negative impact on functional capacity, symptoms and health-related quality of life (HRQOL). This study aimed to i) investigate the recovery of muscle strength, functional capacity, symptoms, and HRQOL in patients after a severe AECOPD; ii) compare with matched patients with stable COPD (SCOPD); and iii) assess whether these assessments at hospital discharge could discriminate patients' risk for future events.

Methods: This observational study assessed patients with AECOPD during hospital discharge (T1) and one month after discharge (T2).