Interpretation of quality of life scores from the St George's Respiratory Questionnaire

Abstract

The aim of the study was to obtain the general population norms for the St. George9s Respiratory Questionnaire (SGRQ), a specific questionnaire for respiratory diseases.The IBERPOC project was a cross-sectional study of representative samples of the general population aged between 40-69 yrs. The study sample was composed of 862 individuals. All participants considered as "probable cases" of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) (n=460) were eligible to complete the SGRQ and among the rest of the nonprobable COPD participants (n=3,571), 10 individuals from each defined age and sex group were eligible (n=402). Weights were applied to restore general population representativity of the sample.Mean forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1) predicted was 89.4% (SD=16.5%; range: 16-131%). Chronbach9s alpha coefficients were w0.7 in the symptoms, activity and impact scales, and w0.9 in the overall scale. Symptom scale score was significantly higher among males (11.6 versus 7.8; pv0.01) and activity scale score was significantly higher among females (12.2 versus 14.6; p=0.04). In a multiple linear regression model, respiratory diseases (asthma and COPD) and FEV1 % over pred showed the strongest association with the SGRQ total score. Smoking, sex, age and education were independently associated with the total SGRQ score.These results indicate that individuals from the general population presented some of the problems that are important when measuring health-related quality of life in respiratory patients, and provide St George9s Respiratory Questionnaire norms, a useful method for interpreting the St George9s Respiratory Questionnaire score in a given patient or study samples.

Patient-centred assessment of COPD in primary care: experience from a cross-sectional study of health-related quality of life in Europe

“…18,32 The wider PCP population reported here showed very similar baseline and demographic characteristics to patients fulfilling the stricter GOLD criteria described in the previous HRQL in Europe publication. 18 The characteristics of our population are in broad agreement with those reported in the EPIDEPOC study, a large observational study in primary care, specifically with respect to mean age, proportion of males/females, smoking history, associated co-morbidities, and mean…”

Quality of life measured by the St George's Respiratory Questionnaire and spirometry

“…This constitutes a form of external validity for whatever measurement of lung function is chosen, be it FEV1, FEV1 % predicted or absolute definitions based on the FEV1/FVC ratio. The St George's Respiratory Questionnaire (SGRQ), which is a measurement of respiratory quality of life, has been validated in COPD [6][7][8]. However, it was developed prior to the GOLD guidelines with their rigorous spirometric definition of COPD.…”

Calidad de vida en pacientes con Enfermedad Pulmonar Obstructiva

“…En otro estudio realizado con pacientes con fibrosis quística a quienes también se les aplico el SGRQ, se encontró que a pesar de ser más jóvenes, la percepción de las alteraciones en su calidad de vida relacionada con la salud es más negativa al compararlos con una población pacientes con EPOC 20 .…”

“…Igualmente se incluyó la escala de calidad de vida Saint George el cual consta de tres dimensiones: síntomas (presentados debido a la patología pulmonar), actividades (circunstancias que causan o están limitadas por la disnea) e impacto(funcionamiento social y psicológico que pueden alterar el estilo de vida del paciente), para un total de 50 preguntas donde 10 son de opción múltiple y 40 de verdadero o falso, este instrumento permite valorar la calidad de vida de 0-100 donde las puntuaciones más altas indican una mayor alteración de la misma 14 .…”

“…Se han utilizado diversos cuestionarios para evaluar la calidad de vida, algunos realizan esta valoración de manera general y otros son considerados específicos, para el caso de la EPOC existe un cuestionario respiratorio denominado Saint George's SGRQ , que permite valorar de forma estandarizada la impresión subjetiva que los pacientes tienen sobre su propia enfermedad; una de las principales aplicaciones de este cuestionario es la de detectar aquellos factores que más condicionan la vida diaria de los pacientes con EPOC, lo que permite incidir en determinados aspectos del tratamiento con el objetivo de mejorar su calidad de vida 14 .…”