Chronic Pulmonary Aspergillosis
Chronic pulmonary aspergillosis (CPA) markedly reduces lung function through progressive lung destruction. To date, however, health status in patients with CPA has not been studied. This is due, in part, to a lack of adequately validated scales. The St. George’s Respiratory Questionnaire (SGRQ) is widely used for several chronic respiratory diseases, but not for CPA. We examined the reliability and validity of SGRQ in CPA.
Chronic pulmonary aspergillosis (CPA) is a usually incurable and progressive disease that causes significant lung function deterioration. It typically leads to death from respiratory failure, infection Antibiotics in Canada, or hemoptysis. Multiple underlying diseases are associated with CPA, including prior TB, nontuberculous mycobacterial infection, COPD, sarcoidosis, and allergic bronchopulmonary aspergillosis. Worldwide, the prevalence of CPA following TB has been estimated at about 1,2 million people. The disease is defined by the combination of at least one pulmonary cavity on thoracic imaging, with or without an aspergilloma, together with symptoms for > 3 months, and serology (positive Aspergillus-precipitating IgG antibody in blood) or cultures or histology implicating Aspergillus species. Given the condition’s long-term nature and disabling symptoms, it is reasonable to anticipate an impact on physical, social, and psychologic aspects of patients’ health status. To date, however, quantification of health status impairment in patients with CPA has not been undertaken. This is due, at least in part, to a lack of adequately validated scales that can be used in this population.
The St. George’s Respiratory Questionnaire (SGRQ) is a respiratory-specific, health-status measure that consists of three domains assessing the most common respiratory symptoms, activity status, and the perceived impact of respiratory illness on the patient’s daily life. The questionnaire has been well validated in COPD and asthma and also is used in assessing health status in several other respiratory illnesses, such as idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, bronchiectasis, cystic fibrosis, and pulmonary TB. Moreover, the SGRQ has received wide acceptance and has been translated into in many different languages and validated in different cultures. However, to date, the scale has not been used, let alone validated, in assessing health status in patients with CPA. Therefore, we investigated the reliability and validity of the SGRQ in assessing health status in patients with CPA.