Comparison of quality of life in smoking and non-smoking COPD patients in India using St. George's respiratory questionnaire and COPD assessment test

Quality of life (QoL) assessment is an integral part of disease management and prognosis for all chronic illnesses, including COPD. Non-smoking (NS) COPD accounts for 25-45% of all COPD cases globally, and is relatively more common in India. There is little information on QoL of NS-COPD patients and how it compares with smoking (S)-COPD. We studied the QoL of NS-COPD using SGRQ and CAT and compared it with S-COPD. Methods: 80 smoking & 77 non-smoking physician-confirmed COPD patients with a post-bronchodilator FEV1/FVC 0.05). There was a strong correlation between SGRQ and CAT scores for both NS-COPD (r2= 0.54, p=0.0001) and S-COPD (r2= 0.67, p=0.0001). Interestingly, the SGRQ scores are higher in Indian patients than in Western patients for equivalent FEV1 values. Conclusion: Impairment of QoL of NS-COPD is similar to S-COPD in an Indian cohort.