Management of Patients With Respiratory Symptoms in Sweden

BACKGROUND:

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a major cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. An American randomized web-based study showed important differences in the diagnosis of COPD among female and male patients.Women were more likely to be misdiagnosed as chronic cough or asthma instead of COPD and physicians were more reluctant to refer further women for spirometry.This is of importance as treatment and follow-up differ between the conditions.

Breathlessness, a subjective experience of breathing discomfort, is the cardinal symptom of cardiac and pulmonary disease. In advanced COPD, 98% of patients experience breathlessness which persists at rest or on minimal exertion, despite optimal treatment of the underlying disease (chronic refractory breathlessness). Dyspnea is linked to reduced physical activity, worsening deconditioning, increased anxiety and depression, impaired quality of life, loss of the will to live near death, increased risk of hospitalization, and earlier death.

The preferred treatment for the relief of chronic refractory breathlessness is a systemic (oral or parenteral) low dose opioid (Level I evidence). In a recent meta-analysis of 16 studies (271 patients in total), low dose opioids reduced chronic refractory breathlessness in advanced COPD, without any reported serious adverse effects. Lower dose opioids were not associated with increased risk of admission to hospital or death in a large register-based Swedish study of 2,249 patients with oxygen-dependent COPD patients treated with lower dose opioids (≤ 30mg of oral morphine/day).

Despite the growing evidence that support the use of opioids, physicians are reluctant to prescribe low dose opioids for breathlessness in COPD. In a review of 2000 random dispensed opioid prescriptions among patients with advanced COPD, most of whom suffered from severe chronic breathlessness, the most common stated indication was pain (97%), with only 2% for breathlessness. In a survey, Dutch chest physicians were reluctant to prescribe opioids for refractory breathlessness in advanced COPD due to perceived resistance from the patient and fear of adverse effects, including respiratory depression. Qualitative studies from Canada has shown that physicians in pulmonary medicine and primary care, families and patients feel that low dose opioids can be helpful for the relief of breathlessness, but that treatment was delayed or avoided due to lack of guidelines, lack of related knowledge and experience about opioids, and fears related to the potential adverse effects and legal censure.