[Comprehensive assessment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in primary care. Quality of life and mortality associated comorbidity]

Quality of life of patients and caregivers in southern Spain: Living with the Obstructive pulmonary disease and after a stroke

Chronic diseases show a significant limitation on the quality of life and functional status, as patients as also their caregivers. The objective of this study is to analyse the quality of life of patients diagnosed with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and stroke and their caregivers, and to find out if there is a relationship between the caregiver's overload and the quality of life of the patient, as well as to determine whether the functional status of the patients is related to the quality of life of the caregiver. Quantitative, observational, descriptive, cross-sectional and prospective study, performed at Primary Health Care Centres of the northwest Area of Murcia Region (Spain), between January and May 2018, with 131 patients, 79 with stroke, 48 with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (4 of them with both diseases), and 110 caregivers. The EuroQol scale, Zarit's questionnaire and Barthel's index and an ad hoc questionnaire of sociodemographic variables developed for this study were used. We found a positive and significant correlation between the scores of the caregiver's overload scale and those of the caregiver's health status (r = -0.425; p = 0.001), and a negative and also significant correlation between the overload and quality of life of the patients (r = -0.297; p = 0.002) and their inability (r = 0.189; p = 0.048). The more the overload we find the worse quality of life of the caregiver, but better quality of life of the patient. The physical inability of the patients also influences on the caregiver's level of overload, but not in his health status. Intervention programmes are needed to improve the quality of life of family members as they are the best patient support and the best help for healthcare professionals.

[Prevalence of Depressive Symptoms, Predictive Factors, and Diagnosis of Suspicion of Depression in Patients with COPD]

Objetivo

Conocer la prevalencia y factores predictores de depresión en pacientes diagnosticados de enfermedad pulmonar obstructiva crónica (EPOC) y remitidos desde Atención Primaria a consultas de Neumología, servicios que comparten la atención al proceso EPOC.

Diseño

Estudio observacional, multicéntrico, prospectivo con muestreo no probabilístico, transversal.

Emplazamiento

Dos consultas de neumología de dos hospitales de diferente nivel asistencial.

Participantes

Se diagnosticaron 293 pacientes de EPOC en fase estable de la enfermedad.

Intervenciones

Aplicación de cuestionarios clínicos habituales en la EPOC y test HADS (Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale).

Variables

Variables demográficas, clínicas y funcionales de la EPOC y escala de depresión del test HADS (Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale).

Resultados

Se incluyeron 229 hombres (78,16%) y 64 mujeres (21,8%), con una edad media de 68,2 ± 10,3 años, de los que 93 (31,7%) eran fumadores activos y 200 (68,3%) exfumadores. El 19,45% de los pacientes tenía diagnóstico clínico previo de depresión, pero mediante el test HADS se estableció el diagnóstico de sospecha en el 32,6%. Las variables predictoras fueron: ser mujer, vivir solo y variables relacionadas con la gravedad de la enfermedad (volumen espiratorio forzado en 1 segundo [FEV1] postbroncodilatador, ser paciente de riesgo y fenotipo agudizador según criterios de la Guía Española de la EPOC [GesEPOC] y grados C y D de criterios Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease [GOLD]).

Conclusiones

La prevalencia de la depresión en pacientes con EPOC es alta y está infradiagnosticada. El test diagnóstico HADS es útil para establecer el diagnóstico de sospecha en las consultas de Atención Primaria y Neumología. Existen factores personales y clínicos que pueden considerar predictores y servir de orientación para determinar en qué pacientes realizar el test HADS y, en función de los resultados, derivar al paciente a una Unidad de Salud Mental para confirmar o descartar el diagnóstico.