The impact of depression in recovery and outcome of patients hospitalized for COPD exacerbation

Background: Depression has been associated with worsening of COPD symptoms and quality of life, more exacerbations and increased mortality. Objectives: To evaluate prospectively the impact of depressive symptoms on admission on the outcomes of patients hospitalized for COPD exacerbations (ECOPD). Methods: We studied prospectively 151 patients admitted to hospital for ECOPD. Depression symptoms were evaluated with Becks Depression Inventory. Pulmonary function tests, arterial blood gases and COPD assessment test (CAT) score, were recorded on the day of their admission and 3, 10 and 40 days later. Patients were evaluated monthly for one year. Results: Duration of hospitalization was longer in patients with high depressive symptoms [5 (3, 6) vs 12 (10, 14), p 1 , blood gases, dyspnea and CAT score (p 1 as well as ADO and DOSE indexes on stability compared to patients with less depressive symptoms (41.5±10.7 vs 62.5±20.0, 4.8±1.3 vs 4.1±1.2 and 3.5±1.2 vs 1.9±1.2 respectively; p 2/year) had a higher score in Becks Depression Inventory compared to non-frequent exacerbators (22.2±13.1 vs 9.1±4.2 p Conclusions: Depressive symptoms in patients admitted for ECOPD have significant impact on their recovery and are related to worse survival and more new ECOPD during the following year.