Short Communication Open Access

Quality of life as an element of health assessment and treatment effectiveness in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients under outpatient care in Poland

Abstract

 Aim Diagnosis of the quality of life of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients under outpatient care in a specialist clinic in the Świętokrzyskie region in Poland. Material & Methods The study included 103 patients with COPD treated in Poland at the Clinic of Tuberculosis and Lung Diseases in the Świętokrzyskie Province with a total populations of 1,263,000 inhabitants. The diagnostic survey method with St George's Hospital Respiratory Questionnaire (SGRQ), specific for patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, was used in the study. The results for individual subscales can occur between 0 and 100 points, whereby zero denotes the highest and 100 corresponds to the lowest quality of life. Results The Global Quality of Life assessment (QoL) of patients with COPD has reached an average score of 44.1 ± 14.2 with a median of 41.8. The patients had the highest quality of life on the “Effect on life” subscale, where the average score was 33.6 17.4 with a median of 30.8. On the “Activity” subscale, the average score was 46.7 ± 15.9 with the median of 41.7. This area included the scope of Physical activity. The lowest QoL concerned the Symptoms subscale with an average of 73.2 ± 12.3 as well as a median of 74.7. (Table 1)     Conclusions   The quality of life of COPD patients is deteriorated. Patients experienced a lot of medical and psychosocial problems; Somatic symptoms cause difficulties in everyday functioning. The appropriate therapy that minimizes the symptoms of the disease may significantly improve the quality of life of COPD patients, having at the same time a positive effect on their compliance with medical recommendations

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