Investigation of the health status and quality of life in COPD according to the caregivers-a pilot study

Abstract

<b>Introduction:</b> Because of disease burden,COPD may require caregivers who are mostly spouses or family members. Although the positive effects of caregivers were reported in the studies, there was no study examining the health status and quality of life (QoL) in COPD with different caregivers. <b>Aim:</b> To compare the health status and QoL in COPD with different caregivers and living alone. <b>Methods:</b> Ninety-three COPD (mean age: 66.33±8.23 years) were included. Respiratory symptoms, the number of attacks in last year and hospitalizations of the patients were questioned. The severity of dyspnea by the modified Medical Research Council dyspnea scale, health status by the COPD Assessment Test (CAT), QoL by the St. George9s Respiratory Questionnaire (SGRQ) were assessed. The patients were divided into three groups as living with spouse (LwS), living with child (LwC) and living alone (LA). <b>Results:</b> Thirty-eight (41%) were LwS, 31 (33%) were LwC and 24 (26%) were LA. The groups were similar for age, disease duration, respiratory symptoms and dyspnea (p&gt;0.05). Attacks and hospitalizations were higher in LwC (p&lt;0.05). LA had better results in terms of total and sub-scores of SGRQ and CAT, while LwC had worse (p&lt;0.05). According to pairwise comparisons, there was no difference in LwS and LA (p&gt;0.05), and LwC had worse QoL and health status than LwS and LA (p&lt;0.05). <b>Conclusion:</b> The QoL of LA was better. It is seen in different studies, LA have higher self-efficacy and accordingly higher QoL. Decreased self-management and self-confidence due to excessive protectiveness of caregiver may affect QoL. Our results are similar to the literature, and not done self-efficacy can be considered a limitation.