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Updated: Aug 1, 2025
Breath Collection from Children for Disease Biomarker Discovery
Published on: February 14, 2019
Associations in Perceived Health and Persistent Breathlessness: A Cross-Sectional Study
Slavica Kochovska1, Sungwon Chang2, Max Olsson3
1Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia.
Background:
Persistent breathlessness is debilitating and increases in prevalence with advanced age and at end of life. This study aimed to evaluate any relationship between self-reported global impressions of change (GIC) in perceived health and breathlessness in older men.
Design:
Cross-sectional study of 73-year-old Swedish men in the VAScular and Chronic Obstructive Lung disease study. A postal survey included items on perceived changes in health and breathlessness (GIC scales) and breathlessness (assessed using the modified Medical Research Council [mMRC] breathlessness scale, Dyspnea-12 and Multidimensional Dyspnea Scale) since age 65.
Results:
Of 801 respondents, breathlessness (mMRC ≥2) was reported by 17.9%, worsening breathlessness by 29.1%, and worsening perceived health by 51.3%. Worsening breathlessness was strongly correlated with worsening perceived health (Pearson's correlation coefficient of 0.68 [p < 0.001] and Kendall's τ of 0.56 [p < 0.001]) and associated with more limited function (47.2% vs. 29.7%; p < 0.0001) and increased rates of anxiety/depression.
Conclusion:
The strong correlation between perceived changes in health and persistent breathlessness helps delineate a more comprehensive picture of the challenges faced by older adults living with this disabling symptom.
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