PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Nikola Stenzel AU - Winfried Rief AU - Klaus Kenn TI - The impact of illness perception and fear avoidance on disability in COPD DP - 2014 Sep 01 TA - European Respiratory Journal PG - P3674 VI - 44 IP - Suppl 58 4099 - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/44/Suppl_58/P3674.short 4100 - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/44/Suppl_58/P3674.full SO - Eur Respir J2014 Sep 01; 44 AB - IntroductionVarious studies have demonstrated the relevance of anxiety in COPD. First studies show that anxiety can impact patient's illness behaviour and fear avoidance can influence disability and quality of life. Another well studied psychological concept in COPD is illness perception. Several studies showed its importance for health-related outcomes. So far, these concepts have never been tested simultaneously in COPD.Aim of this study was to examine illness perception and fear avoidance in COPD and their mutual impact on disability and quality of life.Method1025 COPD-patients (M=59.7 years; GOLD I–IV) completed an online-survey. Fear Avoidance was assessed by the newly developed Fear Avoidance Questionnaire for COPD, illness perception wasassessed by the Brief Illness Perception Questionnaire. Outcome measures included COPD-related disability (CAT) and quality of life (SF-12). To test the impact of illness perception and fear avoidance on the outcome variables, hierarchical regression analyses and multiple mediation analyses were conducted.ResultsResults of the two regressions showed that, after controlling for demographics and illness severity, both fear avoidance and illness perception predicted disability (FA: ß = .31; p < .001; IP: ß = .20; p < .001) and quality of life (FA: ß = -.28; p < .001; IP: ß = -.26; p < .001). Moreover fear avoidance explained incremental variance over and above illness perception. Furthermore, mediation analyses showed that fear avoidance and illness perception both served as mediators between COPD-stage and outcome variables.ConclusionFear avoidance and illness perception both play an important role for disability in COPD and should receive further attention.