Interoception and Symptom Perception in Acute COPD Exacerbation

Summary

Interoception refers to the process of perceiving and interpreting internal physiological signals and plays a central role in symptom perception. In conditions with a high symptom burden such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), clinical features including dyspnea perception, depression, and sleep quality may be influenced not only by disease severity but also by the interpretation of internal bodily signals.

Recent evidence suggests that respiratory-related internal signals are transmitted to the central nervous system through multiple afferent pathways and integrated within cortical and subcortical networks, contributing to subjective experiences such as dyspnea. In this context, dyspnea perception may arise from the interaction between disease severity and interoceptive processes.

Depressive symptoms and impaired sleep quality are also closely associated with interoceptive processes and may contribute to the perception of respiratory symptoms. However, studies simultaneously examining interoception, disease severity, dyspnea perception, depression, and sleep quality in hospitalized patients with acute COPD exacerbation are limited.

This prospective, observational, cross-sectional study will include 50 individuals aged 40 years and older who are hospitalized with acute COPD exacerbation in a Chest Diseases clinic. Data will be collected at a single time point when patients are clinically stable, without interfering with routine clinical care. Participants will be recruited using a consecutive sampling method.

Sociodemographic and clinical data will be obtained from patient records and a structured data collection form. Disease severity will be assessed using oxygen requirement, respiratory rate, oxygen saturation, and arterial blood gas values when available. Interoception will be evaluated using the Multidimensional Assessment of Interoceptive Awareness (MAIA-2). Symptom burden will be assessed with the COPD Assessment Test (CAT), dyspnea with the Modified Medical Research Council (mMRC) scale, sleep quality with the Richards-Campbell Sleep Questionnaire (RCSQ), and depressive symptoms with the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale - Depression subscale (HADS-D).

Statistical analyses will be performed using IBM SPSS Statistics software. Relationships between variables will be analyzed using Pearson or Spearman correlation depending on data distribution, with a significance level of p\<0.05.

Conditions

• Acute Exacerbation of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease
• Interoceptive Awareness

Interventions

OTHER

No Intervention: Observational Cohort

Participants' sleep quality, COPD symptom burden, dyspnea severity, anxiety and depression levels, and interoceptive processing will be assessed cross-sectionally.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Saglik Bilimleri Universitesi

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Gamze Koyutürk, Asst Prof · Topkapı University

• Mehmet Burak Uyaroğlu, Asst Prof · Fenerbahce University

• Hüsna Güzel · Fenerbahce University

• Yiğit Ege Güney · Topkapı University

• Esra Ertan Yazar, Prof Dr · Medeniyet University

Eligibility

Min Age

40 Years

Max Age

75 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2026-07-20

Primary Completion

2026-08-20

Completion

2026-08-25

Countries

• Turkey (Türkiye)

Study Locations