The quality of life is an important factor for the improvement of well being in chronic illnesses. It is a goal for treatment of chronic illnesses. The purpose of this study was to identify the factors influencing quality of life in patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). It was a cross – sectional study. The subjects were 102 COPD patients who were treated at the medical clinic in Ramathibodi hospital from October 1999 to June 2000. Data were collected by using project specific, general and disease specific questionnaires which included physical and psychological functioning as well as social / family well being. Multiple regression analysis was used to examine the factors influencing overall quality of life. The results revealed that overall quality of life model was significantly associated with age and respiratory symptoms. Moreover, there was a statistically significant correlation, P<0.05, between age, respiratory symptoms, and pulmonary function and physical function model constructed based on the result of this study. Psychological functioning and social / family well being were not significantly related to age, comorbidity, smoking history, respiratory symptoms, and pulmonary function. The overall quality of life and physical function model could explain the proportion of the total variance, 21.8 percent, and 37.5 percent respectively. The results of this study suggest that health care professionals should assess the treatment outcome for the early detection of COPD respiratory symptoms.

M.Sc. BIOSTATISTICS มหาวิทยาลัยมหิดล ปี 2543

Chronic, of, Quality, copd, disease, life, /, OBSTRUCTIVE, PULMONARY