IMPACT OF EXACERBATIONS ON HEALTH-RELATED QUALITY OF LIFE
Exacerbations have been shown to dramatically impair the feeling of wellbeing in COPD patients. Differences in scores in health-related quality of life (HRQoL) questionnaires between the stable phase and the exacerbation are very important in magnitude. A group of patients with COPD exacerbation showed a moderate-to-large improvement in all four domains of the Chronic Respiratory Disease Questionnaire after 10 days of treatment [18]. This improvement was not observed in patients who relapsed after treatment of exacerbation.