ABSTRACT
Introduction: In studies or lifestyle of patients with [Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease COPD], physical and, social activities, nutrition and smoking are the behavioral patterns, which aggravate this disorder and cause a dysfunctional circle, which prevents healing
Objectives: This study aimed to compare the lifestyle of patients with COPD and control group and then the two groups according to severity and length of disease
Materials and Methods: This descriptive-analytical study was done on 70 patients with COPD as the case group, which was selected, based on American Thoracic Society and also on 70 healthy persons as the control group. Patients with any psychiatric or chronic disorder or those who didn't cooperate were excluded from this study. The questionnaire included demographic information such as age, sex, education level, duration of affliction to this disease and FEV1 and Miller-Smith lifestyle questionnaire were filled for all patients. All data were statistically analyzed by t-student and ANOVA tests
Results: The mean age of case and control groups were 66.3 +/- 9.2 and 64.2 +/- 11.6 respectively. Thirty-six persons [51%] in case group and 35 persons [50%] in control group were male. The means of education level in case and control groups were 8.3 +/- 4.1 and 9.2 +/- 3.4 respectively. The mean score of lifestyle in case group was 66.64 +/- 18.6 and in control group was 32.01 +/- 6.49, which was statistically significant [P<0.013]. The mean score of Miller-Smith questionnaire was significantly increased as the severity of the disease [based on FEV1] and the duration of the disease increased [P<0.003]
Conclusion: Lifestyle is an important factor in patients with COPD. Suitable management and effective pulmonary rehabilitation can be effective in the treatment of patients with COPD. So it is necessary to consider lifestyle change as a part of patients' treatment