Abstract
Introduction: For the same level of lung function women have higher perception of dyspnea than men. The objective of the study was to find out if two sexes differ in association of dyspnea level with lung function in asthma or COPD patients.
Methods: In 30 men (age: 52.4±13.7 years) and 32 women (age: 56.1±14.0 years) with diagnosis of COPD (M=11, W=12) or asthma (M=19, W=20) and with similar percent predicted FVC (p=0.2), FEV1 (p=0.4) and FEV1/FVC (p=0.3) perception of dyspnea was assessed using visual analogue scale (VAS: range 0-10) and a distance during a 6 minute walk test (6MWD in m.) was measured. Analysis involved assessment of gender differences in VAS and 6MWD, and gender-specific correlations of both variables with age, BMI, FVC, FEV1 and FEV1/FVC.
Results: In men and women mean values of VAS were 2.6±2.5 and 3.9±2.8, respectively (p=0.04) but 6MWD did not differ in a statistically significant way between men and women (450.5±137.8 m. and 416.5±108.0 m. respectively, p=0.1). In men VAS correlated with FEV1 (r= -0.43, p=0.01) and FEV1/FVC (r= -0.40, p=0.02), and 6MWD correlated with FVC (r= 0.48, p=0.01), FEV1 (r= 0.59, p=0.001) and FEV1/FVC (r= 0.40, p=0.03). In women VAS correlated with BMI (r= -0.39, p=0.02) and 6MWD correlated with age (r= -0.45, p=0.01). In multivariate analysis, after adjustment for age, BMI and FEV1/FVC gender was a statistically significant explanatory variable for VAS (p=0.04) and 6MWD was related to FEV1/FVC (p=0.02) and marginally to age (p=0.09).
Conclusion: In asthma/COPD patients perception of dyspnea, as assessed by VAS, is higher in women than in men with similar lung function level. Perception of dyspnea better relates to spirometric status in men than in women.
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