- Explain to interested patients that this study supports the higher prevalence of psychiatric disorders among COPD patients found in previous smaller studies.
- Inform patients that the reason for the disproportionate impact of psychiatric disorders among women with COPD is unknown but may be related to sense of control over their symptoms or differential reporting of symptoms between genders.
MONTREAL, July 10 -- Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients, particularly women, may be significantly more likely to suffer psychiatric disorders than the general population, researchers found.
Nearly half (49%) of the patients with COPD in a cross-sectional study had at least one psychiatric disorder, said Kim L. Lavoie, Ph.D., of the Hôpital du Sacré-Coeur de Montréal, and colleagues. There's a 31% rate in the general population.
Nearly twice as many women in the study as men were diagnosed with a psychiatric problem despite similar COPD duration and severity (60% versus 38%, P=0.03), they reported in the July issue of the journal CHEST.
"Greater efforts should be made to improve recognition of psychological morbidity in the routine assessment and dissemination of appropriate referral and treatment," they wrote.
