OVERVIEW
This page is dedicated to organizing various examples of standardized exam questions whose answer is chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). While this may seem a odd practice, it is useful to see multiple examples of how chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD will be characterized on standardized exams (namely the boards and the shelf exams). This page is not meant to be used as a traditional question bank (as all of the answers will be the same), however seeing the classic “test” characterization for a disease is quite valuable.
QUESTION EXAMPLES
Question # 1
A 70-year-old female comes to the clinic because she has been experiencing shortness of breath for the past 6 months. Her difficulty breathing initially began only when walking long distances but now occurs when she walks down her short driveway. She also has a daily morning cough that produces an off-white sputum. She denies chest pain, palpitations, orthopnea, or paroxysmal nocturnal dyspnea. She has smoked one pack of cigarettes daily for 55 years. Her pulse is 85/min, respirations are 22/min, and blood pressure is 145/80 mm Hg. A physical exam is notable for a barrel shaped chest, decreased breath sounds, and fait expiratory wheezes in all lung fields. The rest of the physical exam is unremarkable. A chest X-ray is order and demonstrates no abnormalities other then hyperinflation. What is the likely diagnosis in this patient?
Page Updated: 02.20.2017