medication. Your doctor might also call it a flare. These flare-ups are more likely if your spirometry result is GOLD 3 or GOLD 4.
Other Health Problems
Your doctor will consider other health problems you have, too. It’s all part of grading your COPD and deciding what type of treatment is best for you.
COPD Groups
Based on all of these things — your symptoms, spirometry results, and exacerbation risk — your doctor will put your COPD into one of these groups:
- Group A: Low risk, fewer symptoms
- Group B: Low risk, more symptoms
- Group C: High risk, fewer symptoms
- Group D: High risk, more symptoms
If you have questions about any terms that your doctor uses — whether “grades” or “groups,” ask. There’s a lot of information out there, and the best way to control your COPD is to learn as much as you can about it.
COPD Stages
You may hear people talk about the old system, which staged COPD based on your FEV-1 score alone. There were four stages:
- Stage 1 — Mild — FEV-1 ≥80%: You may have no symptoms. You might be short of breath when walking fast on level ground or climbing a slight hill.
- Stage 2 — Moderate — FEV-1 50-79%: If you’re walking on level ground, you might have to stop every few minutes to catch your breath.
- Stage 3 — Severe — FEV-1 30-49%: You may be too short of breath to leave the house. You might get breathless doing something as simple as dressing and undressing.
- Stage 4 — Very Severe — FEV-1 ≤30%: You might have lung or heart failure. This can make it hard to catch your breath even when you’re resting. You might hear this called end-stage COPD.
Can You Postpone Advanced or End-Stage COPD?
It depends on how advanced your COPD is and how well you respond to treatment. No two people are the same. But following these steps for a healthy lifestyle can help:
- Don’t smoke. If you do, get help to quit.
- Avoid unhealthy air. Keep away from dust, fumes, and smoke. Stay inside on bad air days.
- Get a yearly flu shot. Ask your doctor if you need the pneumonia vaccine, too.
- Eat healthy food. Talk to your doctor about how to keep your weight where it should be.
- Keep moving. Make sure you get enough exercise.