[Psychosocial aspects of chronic respiratory tract diseases (COPD): relevance and consequences for pulmonary rehabilitation].

: As a part of the Davoser-Reha-Study, the significance of psychosocial aspects on the course of chronic pulmonary disease has been investigated on 414 patients (mean age = 47.1 years) with COPD (mean duration = 16 years) and a high percentage of multimorbidity (75%). Of special interest was the question, what kind of impact coping strategies do have on certain aspects of quality of life, in the sense of outcome criterias of the medical rehabilitation. Also it is not possible for the moment to draw final conclusions, because the knowledge about coping strategies and their adaptability is still very limited, the current study indicates, that some coping strategies are more supportive for adaptation than others. Positive for adaptation are strategies, which can be described as active exposition with the disease (fighting spirit, information seeking and active problem solving). Depressive coping strategies and the tendency to deny the disease seem to have a negative effect. All in all the results verify the strong necessity of taking psychosocial aspects into account for the complete treatment of chronically ill patients with COPD.