The BODE index (including body-mass index, airflow obstruction, dyspnoea, and exercise capacity) was an important contribution to the prognostic assessment of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). However, no study has assessed whether the risk of mortality predicted by the BODE index matches the observed mortality in different populations. This study assessed the calibration of the BODE index, updated it to improve its calibration, and developed and validated a simplified index for use in primary-care settings. 232 patients from the Swiss Barmelweid cohort with longstanding and severe COPD and 342 patients from the Spanish Phenotype and Course of COPD cohort study who had had their first hospital admission due to moderate-to-severe COPD were inckluded. The observed 3-year risk of all-cause mortality and the risk predicted by the BODE index were compared. The BODE index was then updated and a simplified ADO index (including age, dyspnoea, and airflow obstruction) developed.
Both the updated BODE and ADO indices could lend support to the prognostic assessment of patients with COPD in specialised and primary-care settings. Such assessment enhances the targeting of treatments to individual patients.