Evidence map›Paper›PMID 17550673›Full record

ArticleThe British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners2007

Quality of life in smokers: focus on functional limitations rather than on lung function?

Roeland Mm Geijer, Alfred Pe Sachs, Theo Jm Verheij, Huib Am Kerstjens, Marijke M Kuyvenhoven, Arno W Hoes

Open access · greenAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners, 2007. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
4citing papers in PubMed
1.5field-weighted citation impact, top 16% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

4 citing papers in PubMed, 14 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Article
  2. Article
  3. How do dyspnoea scales compare with measurement of functional capacity in patients with COPD and at risk of COPD?Primary care respiratory journal : journal of the General Practice Airways Group · 2012
    Article
  4. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.

Roeland Mm GeijerJulius Centre for Health Sciences and Primary Care, University Medical Center, Utrecht, the Netherlands. rmmgeyer@hotmail.com
Alfred Pe Sachs
Theo Jm Verheij
Huib Am Kerstjens
Marijke M Kuyvenhoven
Arno W Hoes
Institute for Asthma and Allergy · USUniversity Medical Center Utrecht · NL

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundThe Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) classification of severity of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is based solely on obstruction and does not capture physical functioning. The hypothesis that the Medical Research Council (MRC) dyspnoea scale would correlate better with quality of life than the level of airflow limitation was examined.

aimTo study the associations between quality of life in smokers and limitations in physical functioning (MRC dyspnoea scale) and, quality of life and airflow limitation (GOLD COPD stages).

designCross-sectional study.

settingThe city of IJsselstein, a small town in the centre of The Netherlands.

methodMale smokers aged 40-65 years without a prior diagnosis of COPD and enlisted with a general practice, participated in this study. Quality of life was assessed by means of a generic (SF-36) and a disease-specific, questionnaire (QOLRIQ).

resultsA total of 395 subjects (mean age 55.4 years, pack years 27.1) performed adequate spirometry and completed the questionnaires. Limitations of physical functioning according to the MRC dyspnoea scale were found in 25.1% (99/395) of the participants and airflow limitation in 40.2% (159/395). The correlations of limitations of physical functioning with all quality-of-life components were stronger than the correlations of all quality-of-life subscales with the severity of airflow limitation.

conclusionIn middle-aged smokers the correlation of limitations of physical functioning (MRC dyspnoea scale) with quality of life was stronger than the correlation of the severity of airflow limitation with quality of life. Future staging systems of severity of COPD should capture this and not rely on forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1) alone.

Indexed as

Quality of LifeAdultAgedCross-Sectional StudiesDyspneaForced Expiratory VolumeHumansMaleMiddle AgedNetherlandsPulmonary Disease, Chronic ObstructiveSeverity of Illness IndexSmokingVital Capacity

Identifiers

PMID17550673
PMCPMC2078172
OpenAlexW2153970518

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.