Statistics

Family medicine

Delphi method

Mathematics

Medicine

Nursing

Psychological intervention

European Respiratory Journal

Breathlessness that persists despite treatment for the underlying conditions is debilitating. Identifying this discrete entity as a clinical syndrome should raise awareness amongst patients, clinicians, service providers, researchers and research funders. Using the Delphi method, questions and statements were generated via expert group consultations and one-to-one interviews (n=17). These were subsequently circulated in three survey rounds (n=34, n=25, n=31) to an extended international group from various settings (clinical and laboratory; hospital, hospice and community) and working within the basic sciences and clinical specialties. The a priori target agreement for each question was 70%. Findings were discussed at a multinational workshop. The agreed term, chronic breathlessness syndrome, was defined as breathlessness that persists despite optimal treatment of the underlying pathophysiology and that results in disability. A stated duration was not needed for “chronic”. Key terms for French and German trans...

Towards an expert consensus to delineate a clinical syndrome of chronic breathlessness