A Study of Correlations Between Patient Perceptions and Findings on Clinical Examination in COPD Patients in Romania.

SESSION TITLE: COPD Diagnosis and Evaluation Posters IISESSION TYPE: Original Investigation PosterPRESENTED ON: Wednesday, October 29, 2014 at 01:30 PM - 02:30 PMPURPOSE: Patient-perceived COPD symptoms vary over the day and the week with impact on daily activities, morning being the worst time of day. The study aimed to identify the correlation between patient perceptions of their ability to perform morning activities and the general health status visual scale, as assessed by the physician during physical examination. This was the first Romanian study to assess this correlation.

METHODS: RELIEF (CorRELation Between PatIent PErception and Findings on Clinical Examination, NCT01627743) was a non-interventional, multicenter, prospective, 12-weeks study of patients aged at least 40 years with COPD stage C or D treated with ICS/LABA combined therapy. Patients were current or ex-smokers. In order to evaluate patients' perception on ability to perform morning activities, the validated Capacity of Daily Living during the Morning (CDLM) Questionnaire was used. Investigators used a 5-items visual scale for assessing the health status (5=very good, 1=very bad).

RESULTS: 505 patients were included in the final analysis. The majority of patients were male (85.1%), with a mean age of 65 years. 74.7% were reported as being ex-smokers with a mean of 20 cigarettes (1 pack) per day. The average duration of COPD was 5.31 years and more than half of the patients enrolled had COPD stage C (61%). The mean duration of inhaled combined therapy before study was 36 months. 67.9% patients reported comorbidities, majority being from the cardio-vascular area with hypertension the most frequent condition (38.2%). The mean score of CDLM increased during the prospective follow-up from 3.68 to 3.94, as well as the percentage of patients with a general health status of 4/5 from 41.2% to 57.4%. A positive correlation, weak-to-moderate, was found between the CDLM total score and the general health status (Kendall tau-b values from 0.2269 to 0.3181).

CONCLUSIONS: These results indicate a general improvement of subjective perceptions of both patients and health care providers and complete the COPD landscape in Romania, being the first study on quality of life.CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS: The regular contact with the health care provider might lead to a general health improvement and might represent an important motivational tool to be taken into account in treating severe COPD patients.

DISCLOSURE: Florin Mihaltan: Consultant fee, speaker bureau, advisory committee, etc.: consultant fee, speaker fee for ASTRA ZENECA Dragos Ungureanu: Consultant fee, speaker bureau, advisory committee, etc.: Consultant fee. speaker fee for Astra ZenecaNo Product/Research Disclosure Information.