日前，欧洲呼吸病杂志发文提示“慢性肺阻塞性疾病（chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD）的患者若频繁或经常出现较显著的疲劳，常常预示着他或她在未来的几个月内的病情恶化，且往往需要住院接受治疗，这无疑会降低患者的生活质量和增加其经济负担。”慢性肺病的患者出现疲劳往往与躯体和/或心理因素有关，如缺乏能量、注意力能集中等都可能是诱发疲劳的原因，值得关注啊！

Fatigue in COPD Patients Often Precedes Hospitalization: Study

Low energy is common in people with the respiratory condition

THURSDAY, June 14 (HealthDay News) -- Fatigue could be used to predict the risk of hospitalization for people with a lung condition called chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), a new study says.

COPD refers to either emphysema or chronic bronchitis. Besides fatigue, symptoms include coughing, wheezing and shortness of breath. Symptoms can rapidly worsen, making it hard to breathe, and such COPD flare-ups often put patients in the hospital.

The new study findings could be used by doctors to reduce hospital admissions for people with COPD, which could improve patients' quality of life and decrease the economic impact of the disease, according to the researchers.

They assessed 83 COPD patients and found that those with the most severe fatigue were almost 14 times more likely to be hospitalized within 20 months than those with the least fatigue. And the more severe the fatigue, the longer the hospital stay.

The results indicate that fatigue levels are associated with COPD severity and that fatigue is a strong predictor of hospitalization for COPD patients, the researchers said.

The study was published online June 13 in the European Respiratory Journal.

"There has been little research into the clinical significance of reports of fatigue. Our study has helped to show that patients' experiences of fatigue could be used as a predictor of hospital admissions," lead author Dr. Johanna Paddison, of Repatriation General Hospital in Adelaide, Australia, said in a journal news release.

"As hospitalizations for COPD can impact upon quality of life and have economic consequences, the results of this study have significant implications for the management of COPD," she added.

Fatigue is the second most common symptom of COPD, after breathlessness. Symptoms of fatigue can be physical and mental, such as lack of energy or poor concentration.

SOURCE: European Respiratory Journal, news release, June 13, 2012