Evaluation of Dyspnea and Quality of Life in Patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

Aim: The study was conducted to determine the relationship between the perception of dyspnea and quality of life in patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) and affecting factors. Methods: Seventy-five COPD patients treated in a University Hospital in Edirne province were included in this descriptive cross-sectional study in order to evaluate the dyspnea and quality of life in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. The data of the study were collected by The Modified Medical Research Council scale to determine the dyspnea of the patients and the Saint George Respiratory Questionnaire to measure the quality of life and Patient information form. Results: The average age of the patients was 60.86 ± 9.4 years, 73.30% of them were male. It was observed that the perception of dyspnea was severe in half of the patients (53%) and the quality of life was well. In this study, factors such as age, smoking, exposure to passive tobacco smoke were found to be effective on perception of dyspnea and quality of life (p <0.05). In our study, a negative relationship was found between dyspnea and quality of life (p <0.05). It was determined that the quality of life deteriorated as the severity of dyspnea increased. Conclusions: It was found out that personal characteristics of patients with COPD (age, smoking, etc.) and the characteristics related to the disease (duration of diagnosis, severity of dyspnea, etc.), affects dyspnea and quality of life. By taking these characteristics into account, education and nursing care practices are thought to have a positive effect on improving dyspnea and quality of life.

Abstract licence: CC BY-NC

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