The Influence of Disease Severity on Health Related Quality of Life of Patients with COPD

Abstract

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) is one of the major global health issues becoming of the leading cause of morbidity and mortality around the world. This study was undertaken to evaluate the impact of disease severity on Health Related Quality of Life (HRQoL) and the influence of factors affecting on it. A total of 77 patients who had been medically diagnosed as COPD by a consultant physician were recruited according to systematic sampling method at National Hospital for Respiratory Diseases, Welisara. St. George’s Respiratory Questionnaire was used to assess HRQoL and lung function parameters and socio demographic data was collected. Disease severity of COPD patients was categorized according to GOLD guidelines. Data was analyzed using SPSS version 23.0. The mean age of 77 participants was 59.39±7.28 ranged from 40-70 years and majority of them were males (n=70, 90.9%). Patients fallen under GOLD stage I was not observed within the sample. There was no statistically significant difference in the SGRQ scores between the severity groups (p = 0.347). Significant weak negative correlations were found between impact domain and FEV1 (r =-0.239, p = 0.036) and FEV1 predicted % (r = -0.223, p = 0.049). Further significant negative correlation was found between FEV1 predicted % and symptom domain (r = -0.202 p=0.039) The influence of disease severity on HRQoL can be vary once the disease has progressed in COPD patient regardless of gender, age, and smoking habits. The impact of comorbidities should be observed to identify the influence of them on HRQoL.