Murray, D. orcid.org/0000-0002-4314-4480, Rooney, J. orcid.org/0000-0001-6346-0731, Meldrum, D. orcid.org/0000-0002-7732-3591 et al. (18 more authors) (2025) Respiratory measurements, respiratory symptoms, and quality of life in ALS: results from the REVEALS study. Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis and Frontotemporal Degeneration. ISSN 2167-8421
Abstract
Objective: Progressing respiratory weakness throughout the course of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is clinically associated with distressing symptoms, including dyspnea, orthopnea, and difficulty clearing secretions. Fatigue, poor sleep, and reduced quality of life are also considered to be associated with declining respiratory function. Respiratory measurements guide prescription of interventions, which aim to alleviate symptoms. The relationships between respiratory measurements and patient reported symptoms are currently unclear.
Method: The REVEALS study was a longitudinal, observational, multisite study of decline in respiratory function in people with ALS attending six European centers. Respiratory measures (forced and slow vital capacity (F/SVC), sniff nasal inspiratory pressure (SNIP), and peak cough flow) were collected, as were the presence of respiratory symptoms and simple quality of life, fatigue and sleep measures. We used Bayesian's multivariate models to explore the associations of the respiratory measures with outcome variables.
Results: Two hundred and eighty participants completed in-person assessments over a median of 8 (IQR 2.3, 14.1) months, with 974 data collection timepoints. The probability of reporting symptoms including dyspnea, orthopnea, and difficulty clearing secretions increased with decreasing respiratory measurement scores. The probability of reporting moderately low quality of life and moderate fatigue also increased with decreasing test scores, but reported sleep quality was not associated with respiratory scores.
Conclusion: Respiratory weakness in people with ALS was associated with symptoms including dyspnea, orthopnea, and difficulty clearing secretions. The probability of reporting symptoms increased incrementally as respiratory weakness increased, supporting the use of both respiratory measurements and the presence of symptoms in making decisions about clinical interventions.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2025 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, and is not altered, transformed, or built upon in any way. The terms on which this article has been published allow the posting of the Accepted Manuscript in a repository by the author(s) or with their consent. |
Keywords: | Respiratory measurement; amyotrophic lateral sclerosis; respiratory symptoms |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health (Sheffield) > School of Medicine and Population Health |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 14 Mar 2025 11:55 |
Last Modified: | 14 Mar 2025 11:55 |
Status: | Published online |
Publisher: | Informa UK Limited |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1080/21678421.2025.2471421 |
Related URLs: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:224432 |
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Licence: CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0