Abstract
Background: Anxiety and depression is prevalent among individuals with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), but the impact of these comorbidities on mortality, exacerbation frequency, symptom burden and use of health care services are unknown.
Aims: This study aims to examine mortality and disease burden in individuals with COPD and symptoms of anxiety or depression.
Methods: Individuals with COPD according to the Global Lung Initiative (GLI) recommendations were recruited from the second (1995–97) and third (2006–08) survey of the HUNT Study, and followed until January 2019. We assessed baseline symptoms of anxiety and depression using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), and caseness was defined as a score ≥11. We measured health status with the COPD Assessment Test (CAT), and exacerbations and health care use with a follow-up questionnaire in 2015. We used multivariable logistic and Cox regression to calculate relative risks with 95% confidence intervals for all outcomes.
Results: Among 1576 and 1774 individuals, 21% had symptoms of anxiety and 19% had symptoms of depression, respectively. Caseness of anxiety increased mortality by 32% (95% CI 1.11-1.57), and depression by 39% (1.17-1.65). Furthermore, 7 to 20 years after study participation, individuals with anxiety or depression had higher CAT scores, more exacerbations and increased health care use.
Conclusion: Individuals with COPD and caseness of anxiety or depression have increased mortality. Even decades later, individuals with caseness also have poorer health status, more exacerbations and use of health care services, compared to those with COPD and HADS score <11.
Footnotes
Cite this article as: European Respiratory Journal 2019; 54: Suppl. 63, PA4428.
This is an ERS International Congress abstract. No full-text version is available. Further material to accompany this abstract may be available at www.ers-education.org (ERS member access only).
- Copyright ©the authors 2019