Quality of life of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in the Gulf Cooperation Council countries

OBJECTIVE: To assess the health-related quality of life (HRQL) of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in 4 Gulf Council Cooperation (GCC) countries.

METHODS: We conducted a cross-sectional survey between December 2011 and March 2012 in the following countries: Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (Riyadh, Dammam, and Jeddah), Kuwait, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates. The HRQL was measured using the COPD Assessment Test (CAT) and the Chronic Respiratory Disease Questionnaire-Self-Administered Standardized questionnaire (CRQ-SAS).

RESULTS: We recruited 120 patients from 6 centers in 4 countries. Their average forced expiratory volume (FEV)1 was 49.3% ( ± 13.4) of predicted, and the ratio of FEV1 to forced vital capacity was 0.58 ( ± 0.11). The average COPD Assessment Test (CAT) score was 20.4 ± 7.6; CAT scores were highest for Riyadh (24.1 ± 7.7) and lowest for Kuwait (18.5 ± 9.2), with no significant difference between the centers. For the CRQ-SAS, the dyspnea domain score was 4.6 ± 1.6, the fatigue domain score was 4.3 ± 1.3, the emotional domain was 4.6 ± 1.2, and the mastery domain was 4.8 ± 1.4. The correlation coefficients of the association between the CAT score and the 4 domains of the CRQ-SAS for all of the centers combined was statistically significant.

CONCLUSION: The CAT and CRQ-SAS revealed that the patients with COPD experienced a moderate to severe impact from the disease, and a considerably compromised quality of life in the GCC countries.