M. Venkata Subbaiah
BACKGROUND Obstructive pulmonary diseases include Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), Bronchial Asthma, Bronchiectasis, Small Airway Disease (Bronchiolitis). Among these, Bronchial Asthma and COPD are included in this study. The SGRQ questionnaire is used for measuring impaired health and perceived HRQoL in airways disease (COPD and Asthma). The objective of the present study was to assess the influence of clinical pharmacist counselling on health-related quality of life in a patient with asthma & COPD. MATERIALS AND METHODS This prospective, interventional study was carried out in the general medicine department for a period of 6 months in RIMS Hospital, Kadapa. Patients were enrolled in the study based on inclusion and exclusion criteria. Study subjects were divided equally into two groups- patient counselling group (60) and without patient counselling group (60). All the study subjects were interviewed for the data regarding their demographics, disease type and state, social history, personal habits, etc. Health-related quality of life of all the study subjects was assessed at the baseline with SGRQ questionnaire and noted. RESULTS A total of 120 obstructive pulmonary disease patients were recruited under the inclusion criteria. Out of these, 48(40%) were from asthma and 72 (60%) were COPD and 86 (71.66%) were male and 34 (28.33%) were females. Among 120 patients smoking was present in 90 (75%), followed by alcoholism 4 (3.33%), climate changes 22 (18.33%), beetle nut chewing 4 (3.33%). 66 (55.00%) were labourers, 20 (16.66%) were farmers, 10 (8.33%) were housewives and 24 (20.0%) were from other professions. The average HRQoL score of the total study subjects (120) was found to be 27.29. CONCLUSION This study concluded that the clinical pharmacist involvement in Asthma and COPD disease management has a positive impact on creating awareness about the disease, which improves medication compliance along with Quality of Life.
