Is being able to walk to the letterbox life-changing? A qualitative assessment of measures of improvement in persistent breathlessness

To the Editor: Persistent breathlessness is a prevalent cause of disability in COPD [1]. Many people with COPD do not achieve acceptable symptom control despite optimisation of disease-specific and nonpharmacological treatments [2]. Regular, low-dose, sustained-release morphine may reduce persistent breathlessness in some people, noting wide interindividual variation in benefits and harms. Ideally, sustained-release morphine should only be prescribed to people who are likely to experience a net benefit. To date, the clinicodemographic characteristics of people most likely to benefit from sustained-release morphine for persistent breathlessness have not been defined. Benefits quantified need to reflect people’s perceptions.