Abstract
BackgroundHealth-related quality of life (HRQoL) should be seen as a tool that provides an overall view of the general clinical condition of a COPD patient. The aims of this study were to identify variables associated with HRQoL and whether they continue to have an influence in the medium term, during follow-up.MethodsOverall, 543 patients with COPD were included in this prospective observational longitudinal study. At all four visits during a 5-year follow-up, the patients completed the Saint George’s Respiratory Questionnaire (SGRQ), pulmonary function tests, the 6-min walk test (6MWT), and a physical activity (PA) questionnaire, among others measurements. Data on hospitalization for COPD exacerbations and comorbidities were retrieved from the personal electronic clinical record of each patient at every visit.ResultsThe best fit to the data of the cohort was obtained with a beta-binomial distribution. The following variables were related over time to SGRQ components: age, inhaled medication, smoking habit, forced expiratory volume in one second, handgrip strength, 6MWT distance, body mass index, residual volume, diffusing capacity of the lung for carbon monoxide, PA (depending on level, 13 to 35% better HRQoL, in activity and impacts components), and hospitalizations (5 to 45% poorer HRQoL, depending on the component).ConclusionsAmong COPD patients, HRQoL was associated with the same variables throughout the study period (5-year follow-up), and the variables with the strongest influence were PA and hospitalizations.
Highlights
Health-related quality of life (HRQoL) should be seen as a tool that provides an overall view of the general clinical condition of a COPD patient
We developed a transformation process based on the idea that a 4-point change in the Saint George’s Respiratory Questionnaire (SGRQ) scores could be considered clinically significant, and we divided the 0 to 100 scale into 4-point length subintervals linking the value of each score to the value of its subinterval [19, 20]
physical activity (PA) and hospitalization for COPD exacerbation were the variables most strongly associated with HRQoL in all three components of the SGRQ
Summary
Health-related quality of life (HRQoL) should be seen as a tool that provides an overall view of the general clinical condition of a COPD patient. Chronic diseases are already having and will continue to have profound economic, social and individual consequences and a major impact on the use of health resources and design of new care processes. In this scenario, the patient should play a central role [1]. Considering that HRQoL gives an overall view of the general clinical condition of a patient, it should be used more frequently in daily clinical practice in COPD. Several variables have been related to HRQoL in COPD in various different studies, but these have usually been limited to cross-sectional analysis of a small number of variables
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