Sense of loneliness and meaning in life in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients. Preliminary studies.

Background: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) interferes with everyday functioning but its impact on the loneliness and the meaning in life of the patients is unclear.

Objectives: to determine whether the COPD severity levels correlate with the sense of loneliness and dimensions of the sense of meaning in life.

Methods: 144 patients with COPD during a period of absence of an infectious exacerbation were examined. The number of infectious exacerbations over the past year, the Modified Medical Research Council (mMRC) dyspnea score, the COPD Assessment Test (CAT) score were determined as well as the feelings of loneliness using the De Jong Gierveld Loneliness Scale (DJGLS) and the sense of meaning in life using the Life Attitude Profile-Revised (LAP-R) questionnaire.

Results: The age, the mMRC and CAT scores, the number of pack/years, as well as the number of infectious exacerbations during the year correlated positively with the feeling of loneliness. These variables (except for age) correlated negatively with the LAP-R scales apart from Existential Vacuum, which correlated positively. The subjects from the COPD severity group D (the most seriously ill people) had the highest level of loneliness, while it was the lowest in the subjects from group A (the least ill people). No statistical difference was observed between groups B and C.

Conclusions: With the increase in the values of the selected parameters determining the severity of COPD the sense of meaning in life decreases and loneliness intensifies.