The relationship of dyspnea and disease severity with anthropometric indicators of malnutrition among patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

Objective: To find the association of dyspnea and disease severity with anthropometric indicators of malnutrition among chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients.

Methods: The cross-sectional analytical study was carried out at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, Lahore during October 2013 to December 2014. Total 138 adult patients with severe COPD were enrolled. The severity of disease was measured by global initiative for chronic obstructive lung disease criteria; and dyspnea was assessed by modified medical research council dyspnea scale. Anthropometric indicators of malnutrition such as body mass index (BMI) and mid upper arm circumference (MUAC) were measured to evaluate the nutritional status of COPD patients. Data was analyzed by using Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 20.

Results: The mean age of 138 patients was 55±3 years. The frequency of male patients (76.8%) was three-times higher than female patients (23.2%). The overall frequency of underweight patients measured by BMI was 44%, which was increased to 92% undernourished patients by using MUAC. When compared with female patients, the male patients showed lower means of BMI, MUAC, FEV1% and FEV1/FVC ratio. The significant relationship of high grade dyspnea with BMI (p=0.001), and MUAC (p=<0.001) revealed that malnourished COPD patients had more shortness of breathing as compared to normal-weight patients. Similarly, the association of FEV1% with BMI (p=0.001), and MUAC (p=<0.001) showed that malnourished patients had very severe type of COPD than normal-weight patients.

Conclusion: Dyspnea and severity of disease had significant association with BMI and MUAC among COPD patients. Thus, assessment of nutritional status by measuring BMI and MUAC should be considered to predict the severity of disease among adult COPD patients.