Effect of dyspnea on frailty stages and related factors in Taiwanese men with COPD

Pei-Ju Chen,1 Kuang-Yao Yang,2,3 Wann-Cherng Perng,4 Kuan-Chia Lin,5,6 Kwua-Yun Wang7 1School of Nursing, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of China; 2Department of Chest Medicine, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of China; 3Institute of Emergency and Critical Care Medicine, School of Medicine, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of China; 4Department of Internal Medicine, Tri-Service General Hospital, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of China; 5Institute of Hospital and Health Care Administration, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of China; 6Communty Medicine Research Center, Preventive Medicine Research Center, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of China; 7Department of Nursing, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of China Purpose: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) impacts health-related quality of life in men more than in women. In patients with dyspnea, frailty is more likely to develop and aggravate disability. Despite this, few studies have addressed frailty in men with COPD. The present study investigated the effects of dyspnea and its related factors on frailty in men with COPD. Patients and methods: This cross-sectional observational study selected 125 participants by voluntary sampling at the thoracic outpatient clinics of two medical centers in Taiwan. The modified Medical Research Council questionnaire was used as the basis to classify dyspnea. Data were collected using questionnaires and analyzed using IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, version 24.0 (IBM Corporation., Armonk, NY, USA). Results: There were 85.90% and 26.70% patients with COPD assessed in the unfit stage among the dyspnea and non-dyspnea groups, respectively. Additionally, the number of medication use and the COPD Assessment Test (CAT) scores were correlated with the period from fitness to unfitness among the dyspnea group and non-dyspnea group. Conclusion: COPD with dyspnea was more common in the unfit stages. The total number of medication use and CAT scores were significantly related to frailty. Keywords: chronic obstructive, dyspnea, frail elderly, men, pulmonary diseas