A self-administered, disease-specific form of health status instrument for patients with COPD is not available in America. The St. George’s Respiratory Questionnaire (SGRQ) is a successful measure in Great Britain and Europe that meets these requirements but syntax and colloquial differences make an American version necessary. OBJECTIVE: To test the validity and reliability of an American translation (ATSGRQ) of the SGRQ. METHOD: Two bilingual health professionals independently translated the SGRQ based on summarized input from panels of American COPD patients and American respiratory professionals. Consensus was reached on the translated version and then back-translated by two other bilingual health professionals. To establish reliability, the ATSGRQ was given to COPD patients at the beginning of a pulmonary rehabilitation program (PRP) and repeated one week later. To establish validity, the ATSGRQ was used with pulmonary function tests, the Medical Research Council's dyspnea scale (DYS), 6 minute walk (6MW), and Short Form Health Status Profile-36 (SF-36) at the beginning and end of PRP for 24 COPD patients. RESULTS: The patients were mean age 70yr, 40% male, mean FEV1=0.95. The ATSGRQ Cronbach's alpha for overall scale and symptom, activity, and impact components was respectively .87, .65, .79, .80. Test-retest correlations were .70, .60, .72, .64 respectively. Baseline correlations between total ATSGRQ and FEV1, DYS, 6MW, and SF-36 physical and mental health component scores were -.43, .54, .56, -.76, -.62. From initial to post-PRP, the symptom ATSGRQ decreased 12.6% (p=.004); DYS decreased 10.6% (p=.043). CONCLUSION: Based on these preliminary data, the ATSGRQ appears to be a valid, reliable health status instrument for use in an American COPD population.