Health Related Quality of Life in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Patients

Objective: To determine the health-related quality of life among patients suffering from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Study Design: Cross sectional analytical study. Place and Duration of study: Medicine/pulmonology department of Pak Emirates Military Hospital, Rawalpindi Pakistan, from Jan 2019 to Jan 2020. Methodology: Two hundred and fifty patients of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease diagnosed for more than one year byv a consultant medical specialist or pulmonologist were included in the study. Health related quality of life was assessed by using the chronic obstructive pulmonary disease Assessment Test (CAT). Socio-demographic factors in the study were correlated independently with the decline in quality of life by using the binary logistic regression. Results: Out of 250 patients of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, 122(48.8%) had normal health related quality of life while 128(51.2%) had compromised quality of life. Mean age of the study participants was 50.71±2.26 years. Advancing age of the patients and long duration of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease had statistically significant association with compromised health related quality of life (p-value<0.05) when binary logistic regression was applied. Conclusion: Health related quality of life was found compromised among more than half of the chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients in our study. Patients who were elderly or those who were having symptoms of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease for more than five years had more chances of having compromised health related quality of life as compared to patients with lesser age and short duration of illness.