Grade breathlessness with the modified Medical Research Council scale (0-4). From breathless only on exertion to too breathless to leave the house.
Select the statement that best describes your breathlessness. The mMRC scale grades dyspnea from 0 (only with strenuous exercise) to 4 (too breathless to leave the house).
| Grade | Description |
|---|---|
| Grade 0 | I only get breathless with strenuous exercise. |
| Grade 1← your result | I get short of breath when hurrying on the level or walking up a slight hill. |
| Grade 2 | I walk slower than people of the same age on the level because of breathlessness, or I have to stop for breath when walking at my own pace on the level. |
| Grade 3 | I stop for breath after walking about 100 yards (100 m) or after a few minutes on level ground. |
| Grade 4 | I am too breathless to leave the house, or I am breathless when dressing or undressing. |
The Modified Medical Research Council (mMRC) dyspnea scale is a single-item questionnaire that grades the severity of breathlessness from 0 to 4. Rather than asking how breathless a person feels in general, it anchors each grade to a specific activity: grade 0 means breathlessness only with strenuous exercise, grade 1 on hurrying or a slight hill, grade 2 when walking slower than peers on level ground, grade 3 after about 100 metres on level ground, and grade 4 when too breathless to leave the house or when dressing. This activity-based wording makes the scale quick to administer and reproducible.
Because it is a single question, the mMRC is one of the fastest ways to assess dyspnea in clinical practice and in research. It correlates with exercise capacity and health status in COPD and is widely used to track breathlessness over time and in response to treatment.
In the GOLD framework, an mMRC score of 2 or more indicates high symptom burden and, together with the CAT score, helps assign a patient to the appropriate ABE group. The mMRC is a component of the symptom assessment — a patient with mMRC ≥2 is considered to have more symptoms, which influences the choice of initial therapy.
The mMRC captures only breathlessness and does not assess cough, sputum, or other COPD symptoms, so it is best used alongside the CAT score for a fuller picture of symptom burden. Because it is a categorical scale, it is relatively coarse and may not detect small changes. Interpretation should always consider the patient's baseline activity level and the full clinical context.
Grade breathlessness with the modified Medical Research Council scale (0-4). From breathless only on exertion to too breathless to leave the house
Each component has a specific meaning:
Note: Interpret the mmrc dyspnea result against the thresholds and context described above.
Enter the breathless only on exertion for the scenario you are assessing. Grade breathlessness with the modified Medical Research Council scale (0-4). From breathless only on exertion to too breathless to leave the house. Use the mmrc dyspnea result to inform your calculation.