Quality of life and its associated factors for mild chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients of urban community settings

BACKGROUND: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a serious disease with impaired quality of life (QoL). Few studies have focused on the QoL for mild COPD patients in Chinese urban communities. This study aimed to evaluate the QoL and explore its associated factors among patients with mild COPD in Shanghai. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey of 275 mild COPD patients was conducted in 6 communities of Pudong New Area in Shanghai, China, in 2016. Data on socioeconomic and health conditions were acquired through a face-to-face interview and a physical examination. EuroQoL five-dimension questionnaire (EQ-5D)- Chinese version was applied to evaluate their QoL. Logistic regression was used to estimate odds ratios (ORs) and their 95% CI for risk factors associated with QoL. RESULTS: Among 275 subjects, the overall visual analog scale score and utility of QoL were 70.6 and 0.889, respectively. Logistic regression analysis indicated that exacerbation in recent year were negatively associated with the top 25% utility of QoL (OR =2.02, 95% CI: 1.03-3.97), and the worse exercise capacity (distance of 6-minute walking test <525.3 m) was negatively correlated the outcome (OR =2.92, 95% CI: 1.10-7.75) too. In multi-factor logistic regression, the associations were slightly weakened. CONCLUSIONS: The QoL was impaired in mild COPD patients living in urban communities. Exacerbation in the past year and exercise capacity were significantly correlated to QoL. More interventions should be developed to improve the QoL at the early stage of COPD.