Health Related Quality Of Life In Stable Copd Patients: A Hospital Based Cross Sectional Study

Abstract

Introduction : COPD is an important cause that leads to higher mortality in India and worldwide along with airflow limitation, patients with COPD also have systemic manifestations. Due to persistent symptoms, these patients have a poor health related quality of life (HRQOL). Many subjective and objective scales are designed but they are either complex for use or nonspecific. Hence a simple tool like BODE index is suggested to measure HRQOL in COPD patients. Objective : 1. To measure health related quality of life in stable COPD patients. 2. To evaluate validity of BODE index as Health relat //ed quality of life index (HRQLI) with SGRQ and NHP scales. Methods :It was a prospective hospital based cross sectional study. Stable COPD patients who were diagnosed by spirometry based on GOLD guidelines, after considering inclusion and exclusion criteria were enrolled in the study. Demographic details, MMRC dyspnea grading, clinical examination, lung functional tests and oral questionnaires ie SGRQ and NHP were taken and 6 minute walk test was conducted on the same day in the same order. Finally with all BMI, FEV1, MMRC scale and 6MWD, BODE index was calculated. Pearson correlation coefficient was used to know the association between BODE index, SGRQ and NHP scales. Univariate and multivariate analysis was done to predict validity of BODE index. Results : 155 stable COPD patients who visited Respiratory medicine OPD in KLEs Dr.Prabhakar Kore Hospital and MRC were evaluated for inclusion in the study. After considering selection criteria, 124 patients were considered for the study. Mean age of the study population was 67.37+ 7.93 years and 64.5% of them were men. Pearson correlation coefficient analysis shows a positive correlation between BODE index, SGRQ (p value = 0.001) and NHP scores(p value = 0.001). Regression analysis shows that BODE index is 54.2% (r2 = 0.542) valid in comparison to SGRQ scale and 61.1% (r2= 0.611) valid in comparison to NHP scale to measure HRQOL. Conclusion : BODE index is a simple and robust tool to measure health related quality of life in stable COPD patients.