RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 mMRC dyspnoea scale indicates impaired quality of life and increased pain in patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis
JF ERJ Open Research
JO erjor
FD European Respiratory Society
SP 00084-2017
DO 10.1183/23120541.00084-2017
VO 3
IS 4
A1 Kaisa Rajala
A1 Juho T. Lehto
A1 Eva Sutinen
A1 Hannu Kautiainen
A1 Marjukka Myllärniemi
A1 Tiina Saarto
YR 2017
UL http://openres.ersjournals.com/content/3/4/00084-2017.abstract
AB This study was undertaken to investigate idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) patients' health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and symptoms in a real-life cross-sectional study. Our secondary aim was to create a simple identification method for patients with increased need for palliative care by studying the relationship between modified Medical Research Council (mMRC) dyspnoea scale, HRQoL and symptoms.We sent a self-rating HRQoL questionnaire (RAND-36) and modified Edmonton Symptom Assessment Scale (ESAS) to 300 IPF patients; 84% of the patients responded to these questionnaires.The most prevalent (>80%) symptoms were tiredness, breathlessness, cough and pain in movement. An increasing mMRC score showed a linear relationship (p<0.001) to impaired HRQoL in all dimensions of RAND-36 and the severity of all symptoms in ESAS. Dimensions of RAND-36 fell below general population reference values in patients with mMRC score ≥2. The intensity of pain in movement (p<0.001) and at rest (p=0.041), and the prevalence of chest pain (p<0.001) had a positive linear relationship to increased mMRC score.An increasing mMRC score reflects impaired HRQoL and a high symptom burden. In clinical practice, the mMRC scale could be used for screening and identification of IPF patients with increased need for palliative care.mMRC indicates impaired HRQoL and pain in IPF http://ow.ly/oRB430gIW7U