Study of symptomatology in patients with chronic obstructive lung diseases at a tertiary care hospital

 

Gaurav R Dubey¹, Anjali S Deshmukh^2*, Vijay R Kapse³

 

¹Assistant Professor, Department of TB and Respiratory Medicine, Dr PDMMC Amravati, Maharashtra, INDIA.

²Assistant Professor, ³Associate Professor, Department of Medicine, Dr.S.C.G.M.C.Nanded, Maharashtra, INDIA.

Email: dr.dranju@rediffmail.com

 

Abstract              Background: Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) is manifested by chronic cough, sputum production, wheezing and, in later stages, dyspnea, poor exercise tolerance, and signs/symptoms of right-sided heart failure. Symptomatic COPD affects more than 5 percent of the adult population, is the fourth leading cause of death, and the twelfth leading cause of morbidity in the United States. Amis and Objective: To study the symptomatology in patients with chronic obstructive lung diseases at a tertiary care hospital Material and Method: All the patients of chronic obstructive lung diseases attending the respiratory OPD during the January 2016 to June 2016 were enrolled in the present study. The patients not willing to participate the study were excluded. The detail demographic characteristics such as age, sex, occupation etc were inquired and were entered a prestructured proforma. The associated risk factors were also investigated and were recorded. The presenting symptoms were also recorded. The collected data was entered in Microsoft excel and was analyzed and presented with appropriate tables and graphs. Results: The mean age of the study patients was 46.26±16.71 years. Majority of the patients were male (59.32%). 25.99% patients in the present study were labourer whereas farmers were 19.77%. Majority of the women were house wives. 28.81% patients were having smoking habit. Majority of them were using bidi and 5 were female. Out of total 72 female in the present study 33 were exposed to chullah smoke. Breathlessness (92.66%) followed by cough (79.66%) were the most common presenting complaint. It was seen that the in majority of the patients the symptoms were less one month duration (46.89%). Conclusion: Thus we conclude that COPD was observed common among the male population more than 40 years of age. Smoking and Exposure to chullah smoke and occupation such as labourer, farmers and house wives who are exposed dust are at risk of developing COPD. The most common presenting symptom among the study patients was breathlessness followed by cough, chest tightness and wheezing.

Key Words: Chronic obstructive lung diseases, symptoms, risk factors.