The correlation between dyspnea, care dependency, and frailty in older patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

The aim of this descriptive and cross-sectional study was to examine the correlation between dyspnea, care dependency, and frailty in older individuals with chronic obstructive pulmonay disease (COPD). This study was carried out in 3 centers, including internal medicine and geriatric unit of Hacettepe University Adult Hospital, chest diseases clinic and outpatient clinics of Gazi University Health Research and Application Center, Health Sciences University Gulhane Training and Research Hospital between October 1, 2019 and April 1, 2020. A total of 105 patients who were older than 65 years and diagnosed with COPD was included in this study. Descriptive statistics, Spearman Correlation test, Mann Whitney U and Kruskal Wallis test were utilized in data analysis. Data were collected with using Dyspnea-12 (D-12) Scale, Care Dependency Scale (CDS), and Edmonton Frailty Scale (EFS). The mean age of the patients was 73.71±6.17 years and the median scores of D-12 were 24 (moderate-high), the median scores of CDS were 61 (low). The median score of EFS were 10 (moderate), and 47.5% of the patients were severe frail. A negative, strong and significant correlation was revealed between the D-12 and CDS total scores (r=-.754, p <0.05). A positive, strong and significant correlation was found between the D-12 and EFS total scores (r=0.76, p<0.01). Furthermore, a significant, negative and strong correlation was determined between the CDS and EFS total scores (r=-.838, p <0.05). Based on the study results, as dspynea severity increased, both care dependency and frailty severity of patients with COPD increased. Nurses should consider holistic approach while providing care for older patients with COPD, and are recommended to evaluate dsypnea, care depencency, and farilty parametres simultaneously.