Health-related quality of life, symptoms,exercise capacity and lung function during treatment for moderate to severe COPD

摘要

Patients with moderate to severe non-reversible chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) experience marked impairment in their health and well-being. It is known that it is difficult to measure benefits of interventions in this patient group. The aim of this study was to evaluate correlation between health-related quality of life using the St George's Respiratory Questionnaire (SGRQ) and other objective measures such as walking distance in the shuttle walking test (SWT), forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV_1), and peak expiratory flow (PEF). A comparison with symptoms (breathlessness and cough) was also performed. In a 3-month study, two bronchodilators [formoterol (Oxis ) and ipratropium bromide (Atrovent )] were compared with placebo in 144 patients with non-reversible COPD, a mean age of 64 years and a mean FEV_1 of 33% predicted, and mean total SGRQ score of 47. There were no or very small changes in SGRQ, total; after formoterol 0% and after ipratropium -0.5%. At baseline, the coefficients of correlation (r) of SGRQ total score were as follows: versus the SWT: -0.51 (p<0.001), versus breathlessness: 0.67 (p=0.000), and versus cough: 0.48 (p=0.000). All correlations between SGRQ and lung function measurements were weak. The correlation between change in SGRQ, total score, and changes in SWT, symptoms and lung function were all weaker than the baseline value comparisons. The study has demonstrated that limitation at baseline in walking distance and symptoms were related to baseline health-related quality of life measures in patients with moderate to severe COPD. The relations with spirometry variables were weak. All relations were weaker when comparing changes after treatment.