Table 3.
Incidence rate ratio (95% CI) for association of symptom clusters and single symptom with number of healthcare use within 10 months
| Number of nights staying in a hospital |
Number of nights staying in a rehab hospital or other nonacute care facility |
Number of visits to ER, triage or urgent care facility |
Number of visits to outpatient clinics or physician’s assistant or nurses |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Symptom cluster | ||||
| Unadjusted model | ||||
| Subgroup 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Subgroup 2 | 0.84* (0.71–0.99) | 1·86* (1·23–2·83) | 0.96 (0.67–1·37) | 1·06 (0.95–1·19) |
| Subgroup 3 | 1·43* (1·23–1·64) | 2·25* (1·50–3·35) | 1·19 (0.85–1·66) | 1·20* (1·08–1·34) |
| Adjusted model† | ||||
| Subgroup 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Subgroup 2 | 0.75* (0.62–0.90) | 1·47 (0.94–2·29) | 0.81 (0.54–1·21) | 1·03 (0.91–1·16) |
| Subgroup 3 | 1·22* (1·04–1·43) | 1·90* (1·23–2·93) | 0.98 (0.67–1·44) | 1·12* (1·00–1·26) |
| Dyspnoea‡ | ||||
| Unadjusted model | ||||
| ≤51 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 52–65 | 1·70* (1·44–2·01) | 1·06 (0.96–1·19) | 1·33 (0.93–1·91) | 1·07 (0.96–1·19) |
| ≥66 | 1·66* (1·41–1·95) | 0.96 (0.87–1·07) | 1·26 (0.89–1·79) | 0.96 (0.87–1·07) |
| Anxiety‡ | ||||
| Unadjusted model | ||||
| ≤26 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 27–36 | 0.94 (0.80–1·11) | 1·28 (0.84–1·94) | 1·29 (0.90–1·85) | 1·11 (0.99–1·25) |
| ≥37 | 1·24* (1·06–1·45) | 1·67* (1·12–2·50) | 1·05 (0.72–1·53) | 1·19* (1·07–1·33) |
| Depression‡ | ||||
| Unadjusted model | ||||
| ≤5 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 6–9 | 0.51* (0.42–0.61) | 0.92 (0.60–1·41) | 0.86 (0.59–1·24) | 0.96 (0.85–1·07) |
| ≥10 | 1·33* (1·16–1·53) | 1·49* (1·01–2·22) | 1·14 (0.81–1·59) | 1·20* (1·09–1·34) |
| Fatigue‡ | ||||
| Unadjusted model | ||||
| ≥51 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 31–50 | 0.92 (0.79–1·07) | 0.73 (0.44–1·19) | 0.84 (0.59–1·19) | 1·03 (0.93–1·14) |
| ≤30 | 1·28* (1·10–1·49) | 3·83* (2·61–5·61) | 1·17 (0.83–1·64) | 1·28* (1·15–1·42) |
p < 0.05.
Covariates include age, gender, race, education level, income level, marital status, pack years of smoking, maximal workload in cycle ergometer, FEV1% predicted, PaCO2, use of oxygen, physical component scale in MOS-36.
Scores were from University of California, San Diego, Shortness of Breath Questionnaire, Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, Beck Depression Inventory and vitality subscale in Medical Outcomes Study 36-Item Short-Form Health Survey.
For this analysis, we used cutpoints that divided the sample into three equal groups for each of the single symptoms.
All analyses were performed separately.