title: Temperament and character profiles of male COPD patients.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a respiratory disorder, and is characterized by persistent airflow obstruction. These patients are exposed to severe physical limitations and substantial psychosocial trouble. The aims of this study were to determine the temperament and character profiles of personality in patients with COPD and to compare the results with those of healthy controls.
  
  
  METHODS
  Thirty-nine male COPD patients and 67 age- and gender-matched healthy controls completed the self-administered 240-item temperament and character inventory (TCI) and 14-item hospital anxiety and depression scale. The relationships between temperament and character personality profiles and clinical factors such as severity of COPD, anxiety, and depression were evaluated.
  
  
  RESULTS
  COPD patients had significantly higher mean scores of Harm avoidance and lower mean score of Self-directedness than those of healthy controls. In the COPD patients, the anxiety score was significantly higher (P=0.03) and the depression score was found to be insignificantly higher than that of control group. The TCI profiles were not correlated with the severity of COPD. In COPD patients, Self-directedness and Cooperativeness traits of TCI character negatively correlated with anxiety, but any of traits did not correlate with depression.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The present study defined the Harm avoidance score was higher and Self-directedness was lower in COPD patients and the COPD severity did not correlate with any of the personality trait. We suggest that during evaluation of COPD patients for treatment, personality trait should also be considered in clinical practice.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chest Diseases, Kahramanmaras Sutcu Imam University, Faculty of Medicine, Kahramanmaras 46050, Turkey;
authors.forename: Hasan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kahraman
authors.forename: Fatma Ozlem
authors.initials: FO
authors.lastname: Orhan
authors.forename: Mustafa Haki
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Sucakli
authors.forename: Ali
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ozer
authors.forename: Nurhan
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Koksal
authors.forename: Bilal
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Sen
keywords: Temperament; character; chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD); personality