Assessment of Quality of Life in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

In this study, we aimed to investigate the relationship between COPD severity, dyspnea degree and health-related quality of life that measures the disease effects on daily life and general well-be­ing. In this prospective study, 251 patients with COPD as defined by ATS criteria were included. After physical examination, pulmo­nary function test, dyspnea staging done by visual analogue scale (VAS), and the St. George's Respiratory Questionnaire (SGRQ) for assessment of health-related quality of life measurement were applied to all patients. 86.85% of the patients were men and mean age was 65.55±8.82. There were 100 patients (39.8%) in stage 2, 131 patients (52.2%) in stage 3, and 20 patients (8.0%) in stage 4. Mean VAS was 63.6± 13.7 mm. Mean SGRQ scores of subscales, namely, activity, symptom, impact, and total were 58.6+17.2, 57.2±13.9, 42.7+16.6, and 48.9±15.4, respectively. As the disease stage (severity) increased, a significant increase in SGRQ scores (symptom, activity, impact, and total scores) and VAS was obser­ved (p<0.05). Positive correlation between VAS and SGRQ scores was observed (p<0.05). In the COPD stage-free assessment of SGRQ scores with age, there were high SGRQ scores in elderly pa­tients (p<0.05). In conclusion, there was a correlation between qu­ality of life, dyspnea degree and disease severity classified according to pulmonary function tests. As a result, health-related quality of li­fe measurements may be an important indicator to determine the disease severity and dyspnea level.