Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Anxiety and COPD outcomes

From Thorax:


Results COPD was associated with a greater risk of anxiety in multivariable analysis (OR 1.85; 95% CI 1.072 to 3.18). Among patients with COPD, anxiety was related to poorer health outcomes including worse submaximal exercise performance (less distance walked during the 6-min walk test: −66.3 feet for anxious vs non-anxious groups; 95% CI −127.3 to −5.36) and a greater risk of self-reported functional limitations (OR 2.41; 95% CI 1.71 to 3.41). Subjects with COPD with anxiety had a higher longitudinal risk of COPD exacerbation in Cox proportional hazards analysis after controlling for covariates (HR 1.39; 95% CI 1.007 to 1.90).


I don't have the full text of this paper, and I wonder if they controlled for continued smoking. Nicotine is a powerful anxiolytic for some COPD patients.


Via Clinical Cases and Images.



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