Relationship between objective data and health-related quality of life in COPD patients

In chronic diseases take special importance their influence in patient s daily life, in other words, on its quality of life. The Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) is one of the most important chronic diseases in our country, as much by its prevalence as by its economic impact. For the assessment of the life quality in these patients, we have specific questionnaires like the SGRQ, which can help us to better know the disease and its influence on patient s life. In our work the relationship of SGRQ with age, tobacco consumption, gasometrical data and severity of the disease are studied. 51 patients with COPD and without significant comorbidities were selected and the SGRQ was administered to them by a trained interviewer; for every patient we also recovered the gasometrical values, the spirometric data, and their tobacco consumption background. The average score in each one of SGRQ scales were: global scale 40.49 +/- 18.98, symptoms scale 34.76 +/- 16.31, activity scale 56.68 +/- 23.72 and in the impact scale 32.86 +/- 19.96.We have found weak but significant correlations between the SGRQ results and the patient s age and the FEV1, but not with the gasometrical data or with the accumulated tobacco consumption. We can conclude that, in our work, the parameters that better correlates objective data with health-related quality of life of COPD patients are the age and the severity of the obstruction.