Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease; Socioemotional Adjustment and Life Quality

doi:10.1378/chest.77.2.309

Chest

Volume 77, Issue 2, February 1980, Pages 309-311

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Patient Population

Subjects for the study are 166 patients enrolled in the Nocturnal Oxygen Therapy Trials, a multi-side study designed to compare the effectiveness of Nocturnal and Continuous Oxygen Therapy with patients who have severe COPD. Eighty percent of the patients are men, 20 percent women. The mean age of the sample is 65.6 (SD = 8.6); 98 percent are past and/or current smokers. Mean Po₂ at entry is 50.1 (SD = 5.1). Additional information concerning the patient sample is avallabile in Grant et al.⁴

Assessment Procedures

Our

COPD and Life Quality

The results reported here are exclusively from baseline assessments as sufficient data concerning the effects of oxygen therapy on life quality are not yet available.

Our baseline studies indicate that the life-quality of the COPD patient is impaired in almost all respects. The results from the MMPI, for example, (Fig 1) suggest that the major emotional disturbances among the patients include depression, generalized dissatisfaction with life and somatic preoccupation. Similarly, the SIP scores (

Discussion

The results of initial analyses of the NOTT data lead us to conclude that patients with COPD experience substantial emotional disturbance and reductions in life quality. The significant interrelationships between neuropsychologic and life-quality variables suggest that some of the emotional effects of hypoxemia may be the results of an inadequate supply of oxygen to the limbic system and other portions of the brain that mediate emotional behavior. However, it is also clear that socioemotional