An Investigation of Anemia, Fatigue and Loneliness in Patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease and the Relationship between Them
No Thumbnail Available
Date
2019
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
The objective of this study was to investigateanemia, fatigue and loneliness in Chronic ObstructivePulmonary Disease (COPD) patients, and to establishthe relation between them.This study was conducted as descriptive type. Thesample of the study consisted of 250 patients who werereceiving treatment in the respiratory diseases service.A Patient Description Form, the COPD and AsthmaFatigue Scale (CAFS), and the UCLA Loneliness Scalewere used in the collection of data.The mean age of the patients was found to be68.21±12.34 (min: 24, max: 93) years; 64% were aged65 or over, 66% were male. The patients’ meanhemoglobin value was found to be 12.47±1.93 (g/dl)(min: 5.40, max: 16.70), and 45.9% of the femalepatients, 52.1% of the males and 50% overall wereanemic. The patients’ mean loneliness score was36.58±11.00, and their mean fatigue score was81.51±16.30. It was established that 60% were lonelyat a low level. Eight out of ten patients in the study werefound to be fatigued. No correlation was found betweenpatients’ mean loneliness scores and mean fatiguescores (r=0.003, p=0.962); a significant correlation wasfound between their hemoglobin values and their meanfatigue scores (r=0.21, p=0.001), but no significantcorrelation was found between their hemoglobin valuesand their mean loneliness scores (r=0.011, p=0.867).It was concluded that half of the COPD patients inthe study were anemic, a large proportion had fatigue,and that the loneliness rate was low. It was found thatpatients with anemia had more fatigue.