Coping with breathlessness among people with COPD: Distinct physiological and behavioural indicators

Identifying indicators on predominant types of coping with breathlessness may facilitate the possibility for qualified individualised advice on how to live with breathing difficulties. This paper reports the statistical findings on several parameters constituting possible coping-type-specific indicators with the ability to discriminate between four previously identified types of coping with breathlessness. Data were collected from 12 patients with moderate to very severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in relation to body care during hospital stay and at home. Data consisted of: (a) Bedside forced expiratory volume in 1 s of predicted; (b) scores on the Modified Borg Scale; (c) respiratory rate; (d) peripheral oxygen saturation and (e) use of breaks from activity and break time duration. We found that the following parameters were able to discriminate between the four coping types: COPD severity, intensity of breathlessness, respiratory rate, level of oxygen saturation and the patients' use of breaks. These findings should be further tested.