The quality of life in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

Cilj istraživanja: Utvrditi kvalitetu života kod oboljelih od kronične opstruktivne plućne bolesti (KOPB) liječenih u Općoj bolnici Pula (OB Pula) te utvrditi postoji li razlika u kvaliteti života kod oboljelih s obzirom na njihov spol, samoprocijenjeni ekonomski status, radni status, dužinu trajanja bolesti, trenutno pušenje cigareta te dužinu pušenja cigareta. Nacrt studije: presječno istraživanje. Ispitanici i metode: U istraživanje je bilo uključeno 112 bolesnika oboljelih od KOPB–a s područja Istarske županije koji su bili na kontroli u pulmološkoj ambulanti OB-a Pula ili su liječeni na Odjelu za plućne bolesti OB-a Pula. Ispitanici su dobrovoljno sudjelovali u istraživanju te je bila riječ o prigodnom uzorku ispitanika. Za provođenje istraživanja korišten je posebno osmišljeni anketni upitnik koji su ispitanici samostalno popunjavali. Anketni upitnik sastojao se od sociodemografskih pitanja, pitanja vezanih uz zdravstveno stanje oboljelih od KOPB-a, pitanja vezanih uz navike oboljelih te pitanja vezanih uz kvalitetu života oboljelih od KOPB-a. Rezultati: Istraživanje je pokazalo kako je kvaliteta života kod oboljelih od KOPB-a značajno narušena, pri čemu se ne razlikuje prema spolu oboljelih. Kvaliteta života oboljelih značajno je niža kod osoba koje svoj ekonomski status procjenjuju nešto lošijim te puno lošijim od prosjeka kao i kod bolesnika čija bolest traje 20 i/ili više godina. Istraživanjem je utvrđeno da se kvaliteta života oboljelih značajno razlikuje s obzirom na trenutno pušenje cigareta kod oboljelih. Zaključak: Kvaliteta života značajno je narušena kod oboljelih od KOPB-a, a njezino poboljšanje jedan je od najvažnijih ciljeva u liječenju ove bolesti.Objectives: Determine the quality of life in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) at Pula General Hospital as well as detect any differences in life quality of the above mentioned patients taking into consideration their gender, self-assessed economic status, employment status, disease duration, whether they are currently smoking cigarettes and the overall duration of cigarettes smoking. Study Design: Cross-sectional study. Participants and methods: The study includes 112 COPD patients from Istria County, Croatia including patients entitled of aftercare in the pulmonary polyclinic as well as patients being treated in the pulmonary department of Pula General Hospital. The respondents voluntarily completed the study questionnaire and the selected group was appropriate to the aims of the study. A specially designed questionnaire was used for study implementation. The respondents completed their questionnaires on their own. The questionnaire consisted of socio demographic questions, questions related to the state of health, questions referring to habits and also questions on quality of life in patients with COPD. Results: This study shows that the patients with COPD experience a considerable decrease in quality of life and that there is no difference in the gender of the respondents. Quality of life is lower in respondents who perceive their economic status as worse or much worse than the average, as well as in those whose disease lasts for 20 and/or more years. The study also shows that there is a distinct difference in non-smoking respondents and those who smoke cigarettes. Conclusion: The quality of life in patients with COPD is drastically low. Improvement of quality of life in patients with COPD should be one of the most important goals in the treatment of this disease