Health-related quality of life in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients in Korea.
BACKGROUND
There are few publications on quality measurement of COPD health state according to the severity level using EQ-5D in Korea. The present study aimed to evaluate the health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in terms of disease severity in Korea.


METHODS
Totally two hundred patients with COPD were consecutively recruited in one tertiary hospital of Korea. Each respondent was asked to fill out the questionnaire through a face-to-face interview after providing informed consent. The questionnaire included general and clinical characteristics as well as the EQ-5D and Clinical COPD Questionnaire (CCQ). HRQoL was evaluated according to the Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) criteria and severity of breathlessness.


RESULTS
The adjusted mean EQ-5D index scores were 0.83, 0.88, 0.81 and 0.60 in stage I, II, III and IV, respectively. The EQ-5D index tended to decrease with GOLD criteria. The adjusted mean EQ-Visual Analog Scale (VAS) scores ranged from 65.1 in stage IV to 73.9 in stage I. The CCQ total scores deteriorated with an increasing GOLD stage and severity of breathlessness (all P < 0.001). The correlation between CCQ total score and EQ-5D index was -0.69.


CONCLUSIONS
Our study shows that HRQoL in COPD measured by EQ-5D and CCQ worsens with the GOLD stage and severity of breathlessness. EQ-5D and CCQ could be useful instruments for an evaluation of HRQoL in COPD patients in Korea.
Seon-Ha
SH
Kim
Yeon Mok
YM
Oh
Department of Preventive Medicine, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, 86, Asanbyeongwon-gil, Songpa-gu, Seoul 138-736, Korea. jominwoo@amc.seoul.kr.
Min-Woo
MW
Jo
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D029424:Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive / Q000523:psychology*; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology*; D056910:Republic of Korea; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D064232:Visual Analog Scale