Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a major cause of morbidity and mortality chronic obstructive pulmonary disease can cause intense psychological distress due to the caused problems that individuals experience in their lives. COPD is among a number of medical disorders associated with a high rate of depression and other psychological problems.

In this study, it is aimed to evaluate the prevalence of psychological symptoms and disability in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

The study includes 100 volunteers as a control group and 200 patients diagnosed with COPD who are being treated in a hospital for occupational diseases of the Turkish ministry of health. It is performed as definitive-cross-sectional between 12.03.2016–30.04.2016. In gathering the data; socio-demographic Information form, brief disability questionnaire and Beck depression scale and SCL 90 R scale are applied. The mean age of the COPD group is 49.2 ± 3.4 (25–78) and the control group is 45.1 ± 2.4 (27–60).

In our study, depression was detected in 56% of cases with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Mean brief disability questionnaire score was found 7.28. Mild disability was found in 21%, moderate disability in 38% and severe disability in 29%. Moreover, It was also found that obsessive-compulsive and depressive symptoms were higher in COPD cases in comparison with the healthy group.

The author has not supplied his declaration of competing interest.