Relapse of health related quality of life and psychological health in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease 6 months after rehabilitation.

AIMS: This study aimed to evaluate the short- and long-term effects of 4-week inpatient rehabilitation on health-related quality of life (HRQL), anxiety and depression in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and investigate the influence of clinical and socio-demographical factors on unaltered or improved HRQL after discharge.

METHODS: A total of 111 consecutive cases with mild-to-very severe COPD were recruited from three rehabilitation centres and measured at baseline (t1), 4 weeks (t2) and 6-month follow-up (t3). Disease severity was assessed by spirometric tests, HRQL by The St. George's Respiratory Questionnaire (SGRQ) and anxiety and depression by The Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS). Socio-demography and co-morbidity was also reported. Changes in SGRQ and HADS scores from baseline to follow-up were analysed by paired-sample t-test, and logistic regression was used to investigate the influence of different factors on HRQL after discharge.

RESULTS: Health-related quality of life and depression improved between t1 and t2: a change of -3.6 for the SGRQ impact score (p = 0.009), -2.8 for the SGRQ total score (p = 0.012), a clinical relevant change of -4.0 for the SGRQ symptom score (p = 0.012) and a reduction of -0.7 for the HADS depression score (p = 0.011). Between t2 and t3, all SGRQ and HADS scores deteriorated with enhancement of SGRQ impact score (+3.5, p = 0.016), SGRQ total score (+2.5, p = 0.029), HADS anxiety score (+1.1, p = 0.000), HADS depression score (+0.6, p = 0.022) and HADS total score (+1.7, p = 0.000). No significant differences between t1 and t3 were found, except for HADS anxiety score (+0.9, p = 0.003). Patients living alone were 2.9 times more likely to maintain or improve HRQL 6 months after rehabilitation than patients living with someone (95% CI 1.1-7.8, p = 0.039).

CONCLUSION: Short-term benefits on HRQL and depression after rehabilitation relapsed at 6-month follow-up, but without any further deterioration from baseline. Living alone may be beneficial to maintain or improve HRQL after discharge.