Central Data Catalog

Quality of life (QoL) assessment is an integral part of disease management and prognosis for all chronic illnesses, including COPD. Non-smoking (NS) COPD accounts for 25-45% of all COPD cases globally, and is relatively more common in India. There is little information on QoL of NS-COPD patients and how it compares with smoking (S)-COPD. We studied the QoL of NS-COPD using SGRQ and CAT and compared it with S-COPD. Methods: 80 smoking & 77 non-smoking physician-confirmed COPD patients with a post-bronchodilator FEV1/FVC<70% were administered SGRQ and CAT using validated locally translated questionnaires. Results: There were no differences in the age and mean FEV1 of S-COPD and NS-COPD (41.0% ± 13.3 vs 42.9% ± 17.4; p=ns). The mean total SGRQ & CAT scores were similar in both the COPD groups (SGRQ: 60.7±18.1 vs 62.6±18.5; p=0.51) (CAT: 23.7±7.3 vs 23.5±8.0; p=0.86). NS-COPD had lesser symptom SGRQ scores and had lesser CAT scores for cough compared with S-COPD (SGRQ 43.6±24.2 Vs 52.5±21.4; p=0.01 and CAT 2.5±1.3 Vs 3.0±1.4; p=0.02). When divided into moderate, severe and very severe COPD, NS-COPD and S-COPD showed similar SGRQ and CAT scores (p>0.05). There was a strong correlation between SGRQ and CAT scores for both NS-COPD (r2= 0.54, p=0.0001) and S-COPD (r2= 0.67, p=0.0001). Interestingly, the SGRQ scores are higher in Indian patients than in Western patients for equivalent FEV1 values. Conclusion: Impairment of QoL of NS-COPD is similar to S-COPD in an Indian cohort.