The relationship between sleep quality and dyspnoea severity in patients with COPD

Objectives: This study aimed to determine sleep quality, frequency and severity of dyspnoea in COPD patients and to eval- uate the relationship between dyspnoea severity and sleep quality. Method: The sample of the study consisted of 110 patients admitted to the Chest Diseases polyclinic of a private hospital and diagnosed as COPD for at least one year. The data of the study were collected using the "Individual Information Form", "COPD and Asthma Sleep Scale (CASIS)" and "Medical Research Council (MRC) Dyspnoea Scale”. Results: It was found that 6.4% of the patients did not experience dyspnoea, 34.5% had mild, 40.9% had moderate, and 18.2% had severe dyspnoea. The mean CASIS score of the patients without dyspnoea was 29.08±7.83, with mild dyspnoea was 40.22±9.30, with moderate dyspnoea was 50.31±8.97 and with severe dyspnoea was 56.96±13.13. There was a statisti- cally significant difference between dyspnoea severity and mean CASIS score (p=0.001). Correlation analysis between MRC dyspnoea scale and CASIS score showed a significant positive correlation (r=0.61 p=0.001). Conclusion: It was concluded that the majority of COPD patients had moderate or poor sleep quality and dyspnoea. As dyspnoea severity increases, sleep quality decreases. Keywords: Dyspnoea; COPD; Sleep.