The experience of hospitalization in people with advanced chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: A qualitative, phenomenological study

Health Communication and Adherence to Noninvasive Ventilation in Chronic Hypercapnic Respiratory Failure: A Randomized Clinical Trial

Importance

Domiciliary noninvasive ventilation (NIV) is a standard treatment for improving health outcomes among patients with chronic hypercapnic respiratory failure (CHRF). However, poor adherence substantially limits its therapeutic effectiveness.

Objective

To determine the effect of an information-motivation-behavioral (IMB) skills-based intervention (IMB-NIV program) on NIV adherence, patient-reported health outcomes, and health service use among patients with CHRF.

Design, Setting, and Participants

This multisite, assessor-blinded, randomized clinical trial was conducted from January 2022 to March 2023 at respiratory clinics of 2 regional hospitals in Hong Kong among patients with CHRF who had been nonadherent to prescribed domiciliary NIV.

Interventions

The 6-week IMB-NIV program used a hybrid approach, combining in-person and telecare sessions, to provide patients with knowledge, skills, a positive attitude, and social motivation to enhance NIV adherence.

Main Outcomes and Measures

The primary outcome was NIV adherence data retrieved from the NIV machine. Secondary outcomes included the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, Chinese Severe Respiratory Insufficiency questionnaire, venous bicarbonate (HCO3-) level, emergency department (ED) and hospital admissions, and mortality measured at baseline, program completion, and 3, 6, and 12 months.

Results

Of the 124 participants (mean [SD] age, 73.7 [7.2] years; 67 [54.0%] female), the 62 patients in the IMB-NIV group were more likely to adhere to NIV compared with the 62 patients in the usual care group at 12 months (61.3% vs 27.4%; odds ratio, 2.78; 95% CI, 1.69 to 4.55), with a greater increase noted in daily NIV use in hours at that time (B = 2.37; 95% CI, 1.44 to 3.31). A generalized estimating equation indicated significantly greater improvements in sleep quality (B = -3.63; 95% CI, -5.14 to -2.12) and health-related quality of life (β = 14.84; 95% CI, 9.18 to 20.49) at 12 months in the IMB-NIV group. The IMB-NIV group had significantly lower ED admissions (incidence rate ratio, 0.47; 95% CI, 0.26 to 0.84) and a longer time to the first ED visit (hazard ratio, 0.51; 95% CI, 0.28 to 0.95). No significant treatment effect was observed on venous HCO3- levels or hospital admissions.

Conclusions and Relevance

In this randomized clinical trial, the IMB-NIV program offered a promising behavioral approach to improve NIV adherence in patients with CHRF. Its sustained positive effects on sleep quality, health-related quality of life, and ED admissions highlight its potential to optimize the therapeutic benefits of NIV.

Trial Registration

ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT05008211.

COPD-Related Anxiety: A Systematic Review of Patient Perspectives

Background

Anxiety in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is prevalent but often unidentified and therefore not adequately managed. Clinicians find it difficult to detect anxiety symptoms and to differentiate subclinical anxiety from anxiety disorders, because of the considerable overlap between symptoms of COPD and anxiety.

Purpose

We synthesized existing qualitative research on patients' experiences of COPD-related anxiety with the purpose of gaining a richer understanding and proposing a model of the construct.

Methods

Searches for qualitative studies of patients' experiences of COPD-related anxiety were conducted independently by two authors in the databases of PubMed (MEDLINE), CINAHL (EBSCO), and PsycInfo (APA). English-language studies including patients diagnosed with COPD were reviewed, and data were analyzed using thematic analysis.

Results

A total of 41 studies were included in the review. Four themes related to COPD-related anxiety were identified: initial events; internal maintaining factors; external maintaining factors; and behavioral maintaining factors. Based on the identified four themes, a conceptual model of COPD-related anxiety from the patient perspective was developed.

Conclusion

A conceptual model of COPD-related anxiety from the patient perspective is now available, with the potential to inform future attempts at improving identification and management of COPD-related anxiety. Future research should focus on the development of a COPD-specific anxiety questionnaire containing domains that are relevant from the patient perspective.

"Dignity as a Small Candle Flame That Doesn't Go Out!": An Interpretative Phenomenological Study with Patients Living with Advanced Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

Long-term illness, such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), can expose people to existential suffering that threatens their dignity. This qualitative study explored the lived experiences of patients with advanced COPD in relation to dignity. An interpretative phenomenological approach based on lifeworld existentials was conducted to explore and understand the world of the lived experience. Twenty individuals with advanced COPD (GOLD [Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease] stages III and IV) were selected using a purposive sampling strategy. In-depth interviews were used to collect data, which were then analysed using Van Manen's phenomenology of practice. The existential experience of dignity was understood, in essence, as "a small candle flame that doesn't go out!". Four intertwined constituents illuminated the phenomenon: "Lived body-balancing between sick body and willingness to continue"; "Lived relations-balancing between self-control and belongingness"; "Lived Time-balancing between past, present and a limited future"; and "Lived space-balancing between safe places and non-compassionate places". This study explains how existential life phenomena are experienced during the final phases of the COPD trajectory and provides ethical awareness of how dignity is lived. More research is needed to investigate innovative approaches to manage complex care in advanced COPD, in order to assist patients in discovering their inner resources to develop and promote dignity.