Physical Wellness

Depression Worsens Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

By George Houston | Update Date: May 05, 2016 06:40 AM EDT

A recent research from the Manchester Metropolitan University had come to a conclusion that there is an unhealthy bond between depression and the increased severity of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) symptoms in patients. The findings were printed in journal CHEST and was headed by Dr. Abebaw Mengistu Yohanness, a known authority in COPD and psychological well-being.

"We have found a previously unknown link between the brain and COPD. Mental health can have repercussions elsewhere in the body, in this case, exacerbating the negative effects of COPD and poor prognosis in health outcomes,"Dr. Yohannes mentioned to Science Daily as a state of depression aggravates the ailment.

"Essentially, we can treat the brain to treat the lungs and this is something health practitioners should be aware of when working with COPD patients," he added.

The UK study focused on 1,589 individuals in a span of three years and it stumbled early on a statistic that for every four case studies involved there was one affected by depressive symptoms. As the study progress, 14 percent of the individuals were then troubled by sudden onset of depression.

All the COPD patients underwent a six-minute walking test and quality of scale. In due course, "depressed" COPD patients had inferior quality results compared to "non-depressed" patients for both exercise tolerance and quality of life assessment.

Yohannes and his colleagues brought the study to a close ending that the commencement of depression in a COPD patient translates to a poorer quality of well-being; as rapid breathing is also heightened which further increases the harshness of COPD.

Such an outbreak brings about recurring hospital admissions - an incident which is reinforced by an earlier study across the Atlantic at the University of Texas, according to News Max.

This other study from 2001 and 2011 discovered that COPD readmissions were above in average in just a span of a month for "depressed" COPD patients.

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