Background:

The COPD assessment test (CAT) is a tool to assess the quality of life among patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). However, its reliability and dimensionality are unknown in the Colombian context.

Objective:

To know the reliability and dimensional of CAT in a sample of patients from the city of Santa Marta, Colombia.

Material and method:

A clinimetric or methodological study was designed with participation of 292 adults suffered from COPD, aged between 49 and 95 years (mean = 73.5, SD = 8.7), 61.6% of sample were men and 38.4%, women. Participants completed the eight items of CAT. Internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha and McDonald’s omega) and dimensionality (exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, EFA and CFA) were determined.

Results:

Internal consistency of 0.71 was observed for both Cronbach’s alpha and McDonald’s omega. The solution for the one dimension explained 34.4% of the variance, with poor indicators of goodness adjustments in the CFA (χ2 = 126.1, df = 20, p = 0.001, RMSEA = 0.13, IC 90% 0.11-0.15, CFI = 0.75, TLI = 0.66 and SMSR = 0.08).

Conclusions:

The CAT has modest internal consistency; however, the one-dimensional structure shows poor goodness of fit in patients with COPD in Santa Marta, Colombia. It is necessary to corroborate these findings in other populations.