Roles of the physical environment in health-related quality of life in with chronic obstructive disease

Rationale: Many clinical and psychological factors are known to influence the health-related quality of life (HRQL) in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). However, research on whether environmental factors, such as air pollution, noise, temperature, and blue/green spaces also influence HRQL in COPD has not been systematically investigated. Objective: To assess the relationship between air pollution, road traffic noise, temperature, and distance to blue/ green spaces and respiratory-specific HRQL in COPD. Methods: We used cross-sectional data from a multicenter study in 407 stable mild-to-very severe COPD patients from Barcelona (Catalonia). Patients answered the COPD Assessment Test (CAT) and Clinical COPD Question-naire (CCQ). Individual residential exposure to air pollutants (nitrogen dioxide [NO2] and particulate matters of varying aerodynamic diameters [PM2.5, PM10, and PM2.5absorbance]), road traffic noise (Lden), and land surface temperature were estimated using long-term averages from land-use regression models, 24-h noise maps, and land surface temperature maps, respectively. We measured residential distances to blue/green spaces from the Urban Atlas. We used mixed-effect negative binomial (for CAT) and linear (for CCQ) regression models, adjusted for potential confounders, with a random effect by center. Results: Of those patients, 85 % were male and had a mean (SD) age of 69 (9) years, CAT score of 12 (7), CCQ-total score of 1.4 (1.0), and post-bronchodilator forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1) of 57 (18) %predicted. We found that NO2 and PM2.5absorbance were associated with worsened CAT and CCQ-mental scores, e.g., 0.15 -unit change in CAT score [regression coefficient (beta) = 0.15; 95 % confidence interval (CI) = 0.03, 0.26] per interquartile range in NO2 [13.7 mu g/m3]. Greater distances to blue/green spaces were associated with worsened CCQ-mental scores [0.08; 0.002, 0.15]. Conclusions: Our study showed that increased air pollution, particularly NO2 and PM2.5absorbance and greater distances to blue/green spaces negatively influence HRQL in COPD patients. These findings have important implications for the WHO promotion to develop healthy cities for our future.

Automated summary

The study found that increased air pollution, particularly NO2 and PM2.5absorbance, and greater distances to blue/green spaces negatively influence health-related quality of life in COPD patients.