Echocardiographic abnormalities in COPD patients referred for pulmonary rehabilitation were associated with a worse health status on the SGRQ total score (62.5 vs 59.3 points, P=0.044).
Cross-Sectional (n=514)
Do echocardiographic abnormalities impact health status in patients with COPD referred for pulmonary rehabilitation?
Over half of COPD patients referred for pulmonary rehabilitation have echocardiographic abnormalities, many previously undiagnosed, which have a limited but significant negative impact on health status.
Absolute Event Rate: 62.5% vs 59.3%
p-value: p=0.044
ABSTRACT Background and objective Both patients with cardiac diseases as well as those with COPD report an impaired health status. The frequencies of objectively assessed co‐morbid cardiac diseases and their impact on health status in patients with COPD are unknown. We aimed to investigate echocardiographic abnormalities and their impact on health status in a large cohort of patients with COPD referred for pulmonary rehabilitation ( PR ). Methods In this cross‐sectional, observational analyses, demographic and clinical characteristics were assessed during an inpatient pre‐ PR assessment. All patients underwent Doppler echocardiographic evaluation. Health status was assessed using the COPD Assessment Test ( CAT ), Clinical COPD Questionnaire ( CCQ ) and St George's Respiratory Questionnaire ( SGRQ ). Results A total of 514 patients (55.3% males, age: 64.1 (9.1) years, forced expiratory volume in 1 s ( FEV 1 ): 48.6 (20.0) % predicted) were included for analyses. Two hundred and seventy‐six patients (53.7%) were diagnosed with one or more echocardiographic abnormalities. Most prevalent were left ventricular ( LV ) hypertrophy ( LVH , 31.0%), increased right ventricular systolic pressure ( RVSP , 20.4%) and impaired LV ejection fraction ( LVEF , 16.5%). Of the 276 patients, 176 (63.8%) with echocardiographic abnormalities did not have these recorded in their medical history. Patients with echocardiographic abnormalities reported a worse health status as assessed with the SGRQ total score (62.5 (17.1) vs 59.3 (17.6) points, P = 0.044). CCQ and CAT did not differ between groups. Conclusion More than half of the patients referred to PR had echocardiographic abnormalities of which two‐third did not have them recorded in their medical history. We detected a limited impact of echocardiographic abnormalities on health status.
Houben‐Wilke et al. (Wed,) conducted a cross-sectional in COPD (n=514). Echocardiographic abnormalities vs. No echocardiographic abnormalities was evaluated on Health status assessed using SGRQ total score (p=0.044). Echocardiographic abnormalities in COPD patients referred for pulmonary rehabilitation were associated with a worse health status on the SGRQ total score (62.5 vs 59.3 points, P=0.044).