Health-Related Quality of Life in Community-Dwelling Men with Pneumoconiosis

Abstract

Background: There have been few data on the health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in patients with pneumoconiosis. HRQOL is an important aspect of daily living in patients with industrial diseases. Objectives: To investigate the HRQOL and factors that contribute to the impairment of HRQOL in patients with pneumoconiosis. Methods: 297 patients with pneumoconiosis were recruited from a community-based case registry. The HRQOL was measured with the St. George’s Respiratory Questionnaire (SGRQ). Pulmonary function, comorbidity and psychosocial variables were also assessed. Patients’ mood state was evaluated with the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS). Results: The mean SGRQ symptom, activity, impact and total scores were 38.0 ± 19.3, 44.5 ± 21.9, 34.2 ± 17.9 and 39.4 ± 17.4, respectively. These figures were lower than those reported in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease who attended chest clinics. The GDS score (r = 0.38), forced expiratory volume in 1 s predicted (FEV₁% predicted;r = –0.33) and comorbidity (r = 0.21) were the most important predictors of the HRQOL. Conclusions: Besides lung functions, chest clinicians should consider the impact of mood symptoms and comorbidity on the HRQOL in the management of patients with pneumoconiosis.

Quality of life, depression and anxiety in young male patients with silicosis due to denim sandblasting

“…Previous studies in patients with pneumoconiosis and other chronic respiratory diseases revealed that these diseases had affected the quality of life of patients. Our results accord with these findings (3,14,23,24).…”

“…These results indicate that silicosis patients have more severe depressive symptoms than the controls. Psychiatric disorders were found to be more frequent in patients with pneumoconiosis than in the normal population in a study which focused on the relationship between silicosis and depression (23). It has been established that elderly silicosis patients have high rates of depression co-morbidity (3,25).…”

“…It is well known that high rates of anxiety symptoms are observed in patients with chronic lung diseases with dyspnea (13). Although some chronic respiratory diseases such as pneumoconiosis and the other chronic respiratory diseases affect the quality of life of patients, the knowledge of patients about the mortality and the untreatable nature of the disease may have additional effects on the severity of anxiety and depression (3,23,14,24).…”

“…Lowered FEV 1 and FVC values are important predictors for short survival in elderly pneumoconiosis and COPD patients and the development of depressive symptoms in elderly chronic silicosis patients (3,23). Akgun et al reported that silicosis patients had lower values of FEV 1 and FVC, but a similar FEV 1 /FVC ratio than those without silicosis.…”

Determination of Ameliorable Health Impairment Influencing Health-Related Quality of Life among Patients with Silicosis in China: A Cross-Sectional Study

“…The SGRQ has been validated for use in Chinese patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder (COPD) 18 and in Hong Kong Chinese patients with pneumoconiosis. 8 The symptom and activity components of the questionnaire were used to measure symptom and activity impairment on a scale ranging from 0 to 100, where 0 represents the best health status. 19 …”