RT Journal Article SR Electronic T1 Real-world use of the Breathing Pattern Assessment Tool in assessment of breathlessness post-COVID-19 JF Clinical Medicine JO Clin Med FD Royal College of Physicians SP 376 OP 379 DO 10.7861/clinmed.2021-0759 VO 22 IS 4 A1 Hannah Hylton A1 Alex Long A1 Charlotte Francis A1 Rebecca R Taylor A1 William M Ricketts A1 Richa Singh A1 Paul E Pfeffer YR 2022 UL http://www.rcpjournals.org/content/22/4/376.abstract AB Introduction Breathing pattern disorders (BPDs) are a common cause of chronic breathlessness, including after acute respiratory illnesses such as COVID pneumonia. BPD is however underdiagnosed, partly as a result of difficulty in clinically assessing breathing pattern. The Breathing Pattern Assessment Tool (BPAT) has been validated for use in diagnosing BPD in patients with asthma but to date has not been validated in other diseases.Methods Patients undergoing face-to-face review in a post-COVID clinic were assessed by a respiratory physician and specialist respiratory physiotherapist. Assessment included a Dyspnoea-12 (D12) questionnaire to assess breathlessness, physiotherapist assessment of breathing pattern including manual assessment of respiratory motion, and BPAT assessment. The sensitivity and specificity of BPAT for diagnosis of BPD in post-COVID patients was assessed.Results BPAT had a sensitivity of 89.5% and specificity of 78.3% for diagnosing BPD in post-COVID breathlessness. Patients with a BPAT score above the diagnostic cut-off had higher levels of breathlessness than those with lower BPAT scores (D12 score mean average 19.4 vs 13.2).Conclusion BPAT has high sensitivity and moderate specificity for BPD in patients with long COVID. This would support its use as a screening test in clinic, and as a diagnostic tool for large cohort studies.