Study endpoints
death, dyspnea, chronically ill, wheezing, respiratory diseases, cough, phlegm, COPD
RESPIRATORY DISEASE, CHRONICALLY ILL, COPD, SECONDARY, DISEASES
The primary endpoint of the study was the number of acute exacerbations in the past 3 months. For the number of acute exacerbations, the number of outpatient visits, hospital admissions, and hospital days was collected. The secondary endpoints included the St. George’s Respiratory Questionnaire (SGRQ) score [The SGRQ was developed as a COPD-specific health-related quality-of-life assessment instrument, but has since been tested for reliability and validity for a variety of respiratory diseases. The scale is designed to assess changes over time in respiratory symptoms, such as cough, dyspnea, and wheezing, as well as social and psychological effects of these symptoms. It has excellent ability to depict changes due to medical intervention. It is a self-administered questionnaire with 50 questions, and the score is calculated by summing the components of Symptom, Activity, and Impact. “Symptom” indicates the frequency and severity of symptoms such as cough, phlegm, wheezing, and dyspnea. “Impact” represents the social activities and psychological disturbances affected by COPD. Each score ranges from 0 to 100, with "0" indicating no impairment and higher values indicating greater impairment. A cutoff value of 4 points indicates the minimum, clinically significant change.The SCAQ scale assesses the self-care abilities of chronically ill patients. It consists of four subscales with a total of 29 items: 10 items for “acquisition and continuation of health care methods,” 7 items for “adjustment of physical condition,” 7 items for “interest in health care,” and 5 items for “acquisition of effective support”. Each questionnaire item is on a 5-point Likert scale: 5 for "yes," 4 for "somewhat yes," 3 for "neither yes nor no," 2 for "somewhat no," and 1 for "no." It is a self-administered questionnaire, and scores can be calculated for the entire questionnaire and for each construct. The maximum score is 145 points, with higher scores indicating greater self-care ability. No reference score is defined.The EQ-5D is a comprehensive quality of life scale, developed in 1987 by EuroQol, a research group consisting of educational and medical facilities in the United Kingdom and Finland, and has been measured for various diseases. The five items include degree of mobility, personal care, daily activities, pain/discomfort, and anxiety/concern. It is a self-administered questionnaire and the results are used to calculate a standardized health score ranging from "perfect health = 1" to "death = 0".