The effect of frailty level on the acceptance of illness in elderly individuals with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

Aim: The aim of this study was to analyze the relationship between the level of frailty of elderly individuals with COPD and their acceptance of illness. Materials and Methods: The sample of the study consisted of 311 COPD patients aged 65 years and over who applied to the Chest Diseases Outpatient Clinic of S.B.U. İzmir Dr. Suat Seren Chest Diseases and Surgery Training and Research Hospital between 5 February and 15 April 2018, met the sampling inclusion criteria and agreed to participate. The data were collected with the Personal Identification Form, the mMRC Dyspnoea Scale, the Edmonton Frailty Scale, the Visual Analogue Scale, the Acceptance of Illness Scale and the NRS-2002 scale by using face-to-face interview technique. The Ethics Committee approval and the necessary permissions were obtained from the institution and the participants. SPSS 23.0 was used for statistical analyses. Results: The mean age of the patients included in the study was 71.7 ± 6.04, 74% of them were male. 5.1% of them were found to have a sarcopenia risk when the upper arms of the patients were examined while 1% of them were found to have a sarcopenia risk when their calves were examined. It was determined that 47.6% of the patients had additional diseases except COPD and cardiac diseases were mostly found. It was found that 47.6% of the patients used medications regularly, 27.6% of these patients regularly used 5 or more medications. 43.4% of the patients were found to be GOLD II while 42.1% were found to be GOLD III. The mean frailty score of the participants was 5.00±3.36, 49.8% of them were found to be not frail. The mean score of acceptance of illness was 26.99 ± 8.44. There was a high level of negative correlation between the level of frailty and the level of acceptance of the elderly individuals aged 65 years and over who were included in the study (p <0.05, r = -.747). Conclusion: The elderly individuals with COPD over 65 years of age in the study were found to have a lower level of acceptance as the level of frailty increased. The analysis and management of frailty in the care of elderly individuals with COPD is thought to provide the acceptance of the disease by bringing disease risks under control. Keywords: acceptance of illness; COPD; elderly; Frailty