Dyspnea and quality of life in patients referred for lung transplantation

BACKGROUND: In the years 2007-2010 in the Department of Lung Diseases and Tuberculosis, Medical University of Silesia, 86 patients fulfilling ISHLT criteria qualified for lung transplantation. OBJECTIVES: The aim of the study was to assess the correlation between dyspnea and quality of life, and how it is related to clinical data in the examined group. MATERIAL AND METHODS: MRC, OCD, BDI and Borg scale were used for dyspnea evaluation, whereas quality of life was evaluated with SF-36 and SGRQ. A reference group consisted of 18 females and 68 males of the mean age 52 ± 10 years and BMI 24 ± 6. Thirty patients were diagnosed with IPF, 22 with COPD, and 34 with IIP. RESULTS: In the reference group, there was a significant correlation between dyspnea and quality of life: between MRC and Pf (SF-36 domain) r = -0.53; OCD and activity (SGRQ) r = 0.56; OCD and Pf r = -0.55; BDI and impact (SGRQ) r = 0.51; Borg scale and impact r = 0.47. In patients after lung transplantation, correlation between MRC and SF was r = -0.92; OCD and Pf, Bp, MH, PCS r = -0.97; OCD and RE r = -0.89; BDI and Pf r = -0.89; BDI and activity r = 0.9; BDI and PCS r = -0.84. Depending on the diagnosis, the strongest correlation in IIP patients was found between OCD and activity (r = 0.62), in COPD patients - between BDI and impact (r = 0.79), and in IPF patients r = - 0.62 for OCD and Pf. Summing up the results, we can state that there is a significant correlation between dyspnea and quality of life. This correlation seems the strongest in patients after lung transplantation. CONCLUSIONS: The correlation found between the level of dyspnea and quality of life domains in lung transplant patients suggests that it would be worthwhile to add questions regarding dyspnea to assess the severity of the disease, clinical symptoms, and functional impairment during referring the patients for lung transplantation.