THE DECREASE OF ANXIETY AND EMOTIONAL DISTRESS AFTER DOMICILIARY LONG-TERM OXYGEN THERAPY IN PATIENTS WITH CHRONIC OBSTRUCTIVE PULMONARY DISEASE

Abstract

Introduction: Among numerous other effects of early oxygen therapy in the chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), improvement of cerebral function is also found. Objectives: To prove the benefits of domiciliary long-term oxygen therapy on anxiety and emotional distress in patients with COPD. Methods: We made a descriptive clinical study on 26 patients diagnosed with COPD, C and D risk grades, aged over 40, divided into two equal lots, evaluated every 3 months between January 2013-January 2014 in the Vth Internal Medical Clinic of Geriatrics and Gerontology, UMF Iaşi. The first lot included patients with COPD D risk grade and with chronic respiratory insufficiency and the second one included patients with COPD C risk grade, chronic respiratory insufficiency and with cardiovascular comorbidities. We have used MOS- SF 36 questionnaire to quantify the quality of life, the HAM-A scale to measure the severity of anxiety, and the Profile of Emotional Distress (PED) to measure the subjective dimension of functional and dysfunctional negative feelings. Results: We have obtained an improvement in social functioning and mental health scale scores (p=0.03 and p=0.002, respectively). The patients that have associated cardiovascular pathology had statistically significant lower scores in the scale of problems caused by emotional state in comparison to the ones that didn’t present such a pathology (p=0.001). 65% of the patients have declared an improvement of cognitive activity after improving the quality of sleep. The positive effects of oxygen therapy have been validated through the decrease of the Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale (HAM-A) score after 12 months at an average of 12.4 ± 1.9 for the first lot, and 16.6 ± 2.3 for the second one, respectively, difference that has been validated through a very high statistical significance (p<0.001). Conclusions: Oxygen therapy is an important way of treatment in the care of patients with respiratory diseases, both in the chronic and in the acute administration. The treatment immediately improves the health state of the patient, but also ameliorates the evolution of the disease on the long term, by improving anxiety symptoms and emotional distress.

Keywords

• oxygen therapy
• COPD
• anxiety
• emotional distress