St. George's Respiratory Questionnaire
Also known as: SGRQ, St George's
The SGRQ is a 76-item disease-specific quality-of-life instrument designed to measure health status in patients with chronic respiratory disease, particularly chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Developed by Jones and colleagues at King's College London in 1991, it has become the gold standard for assessing functional impact and symptom burden in respiratory populations. The SGRQ is widely used in clinical trials, epidemiological studies, and routine respiratory care to track changes in patient-reported outcomes.
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When to use it
The SGRQ is indicated for patients with chronic respiratory conditions, particularly COPD, cystic fibrosis, bronchiectasis, interstitial lung disease, and asthma. It is preferred in clinical research, especially pharmacological or rehabilitative trials, where disease-specific outcomes are essential. The SGRQ can also monitor longitudinal disease progression in routine clinical practice. It is less suitable for acute respiratory conditions or patients unable to read/understand self-report items.
Strengths & limitations
- Disease-specific: Captures respiratory-relevant impacts on daily living, not generic health concepts
- Psychometrically robust: Extensively validated, with established reliability (test–retest r>0.70), construct validity, and responsiveness to change
- Sensitive to clinically meaningful change: MCID well-established (4 points), allowing precise detection of improvement or deterioration
- Multicultural adaptations: Available in numerous languages with validated translations, facilitating international research and clinical use
- Length (76 items) may burden patients in routine clinical practice with limited time or cognitive fatigue
- Requires literacy: Self-completion assumes adequate reading ability; no oral administration guidance provided
- Ceiling/floor effects in some subgroups: Mild disease or near-remission patients may show limited score variance
Frequently asked
How long does the SGRQ take to complete?
Typically 10–15 minutes for most respondents. Patients with severe dyspnea or cognitive impairment may require additional time or assistance.
What score change indicates clinically meaningful improvement?
A reduction of ≥4 points on the 0–100 Total scale is considered the minimum clinically important difference (MCID). In group studies, a 4-point mean difference would signal a detectable treatment effect.
Is the SGRQ suitable for asthma-only patients, or is it COPD-specific?
While developed in COPD, the SGRQ has been validated in asthma, cystic fibrosis, and bronchiectasis. However, the emphasis on chronic activity limitation may be less sensitive in mild intermittent asthma; consider the Asthma Control Questionnaire for asthma-specific monitoring.
How do I score the SGRQ if a respondent skips items?
Item imputation procedures exist for missing data; typically, missing items in a subscale are estimated using the mean of completed items in that subscale. However, if >10% of items are missing, the questionnaire should be considered invalid.
Sources
- Jones, P. W., Quirk, F. H., & Baveystock, C. M. (1991). The St George's Respiratory Questionnaire. Respiratory Medicine, 85(Suppl B), 25-31. DOI: 10.1016/S0954-6111(06)80166-6 ↗
- Jones, P. W., Quirk, F. H., Baveystock, C. M., & Littlejohns, P. (1992). A self-complete measure of health status for chronic airflow limitation: The St. George's Respiratory Questionnaire. American Review of Respiratory Disease, 145(6), 1321-1327. DOI: 10.1164/ajrccm/145.6.1321 ↗
How to cite this page
ScholarGate. (2026, June 3). St. George's Respiratory Questionnaire. ScholarGate. https://scholargate.app/en/pulmonology/st-george-respiratory-questionnaire
Which method?
Set this method beside its closest kin and read them side by side — the library lays the books on the table; the choice is yours.
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