Results
Most participants were men older than 68 years with a low
educational level and occupationally inactive at recruitment
(Table 1). Almost half were current smokers, and only 2 patients
had never smoked. There was a wide range of severity, symptoms,
impairment of quality of life, and clinical and functional
characteristics of COPD. Almost half of the patients had an
FEV1 below 50% of the predicted value. Only 8% did not have
dyspnea, and 15% had dyspnea at rest.