Association between everyday technology use, activities of daily living and health-related quality of life in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

Abstract

Purpose: A decline in the ability to perform activities of daily living (ADL) and ability to use everyday technology can pose threats to independent living, healthcare management and quality of life (QOL) of patients suffering from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Evidence of the relationship between these variables remains limited. The dual aim of this study was, first, to investigate if health-related QOL (HRQOL) was associated with quality in ADL performance and everyday technology use; second, to examine whether lung function, years with COPD diagnosis, living status or educational level affected physical and mental domains of HRQOL. Methods: This cross-sectional study included (N=80) participants aged 46–87 years recruited at healthcare centres in the Northern Region of Denmark using a convenience sampling procedure. Data were gathered through standardized assessments and analysed using multiple regression analysis. Results: The regression model explained 50.6% (R2=0.506) of the variation in HRQOL– physical. The following four variables were statistically significantly associated with HRQOL – physical: years since COPD diagnosis (p=0.023), ability to use everyday technology (p=0.006), amount of relevant everyday technologies (p=0.015) and ADL motor ability (p<0.01). The regression model explained 22.80% (R2=0.228) of HRQOL – mental. Only the variable ability to use everyday technology was statistically significantly associated with HRQOL – mental (p=0.009). Conclusion: Quality of ADL performance and everyday technology use seem to be associated with HRQOL in people living with COPD. The only demographic variable associated with HRQOL was years with COPD. This indicates that healthcare professionals should enhance their attention also to ADL-performance and everyday technology use when striving to increase the HRQOL of persons living with COPD.