A new study shows that COPD patients experience significantly more psychiatric problems than those in the general population.
Canadian researchers conducted psychiatric interviews and spirometry testing among 62 women and 54 men who had stable COPD. Results indicated that the overall prevalence of psychiatric disorders was 49%, a rate that is at least three times higher than that in the general population.
The study also revealed that nearly twice as many women as men had psychiatric disorders, while women also showed greater psychological distress, worse perceived control of symptoms, and greater functional impairment, despite having comparable COPD severity scores.
