[ relation between psychopathology and severity of chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases]

ABSTRACT

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease[COPD] is one of the most common lung diseases in which the chronic duration of disease and disability can cause COPD exacerbation. Since there is insufficient dataavailable for this caseinIran, we have investigatedthepsychopathological featuresof these patients. In a descriptive analytic study, from March to September 2008, amongpatients of respiratoryclinicat Ghaem Hospitalof Mashhad city, in northeastern part of Iran, 43 people who werediagnosedwith COPD were selected via a convenience sampling and a spirometry was performed. A clinicalpsychologistassessedthe mentalstatus ofthe patients with the Symptom Checklist-90-R [SCL-90-R] instrument,and theHamilton andBeck Depression Inventory. Data were analyzed using theSPSS-14software and tests such as t-test, ANOVA and Pearson. Mean score for Global Severity Index [GSI] was 0.56 for men and 0.98 for women, and 51.2% of patients had developedmorbid psychopathologicalstatus. 51.8% of the patients were clinicallydepressed and 46.5% of them had abnormalanxiety. Women are more prone to experiencing symptoms such as depression, anxiety, phobia and physical disorders [P<0.05]. Patients with severe COPD were more depressed in compare to patients with mild and moderate COPD [P=0.01 and P=0.03, respectively]. Patients with COPD had high scores of psychopathological status. Depression is more prevalent among women diagnosed with COPD which is directly proportional to the severity of disease