Visual attention in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

The selective visual attention of 39 patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) was measured by the Bourdon-Vos test and compared with the attention performance of 38 healthy controls of the same age range. The correlation between the attention of the COPD patients and day- and night-time parameters was determined. Furthermore, in 44 other COPD patients with daytime hypoxaemia, the effect of one night of oxygen supplementation and of a 7-day treatment with two respiratory stimulants (chlormadinone acetate) (CMA) or acetazolamide (ACET) on attention performance was studied. The results showed that the attention performance of COPD patients was lower than that of controls. Significant correlations were found between the mean line time (attention parameter) and the following parameters: age, inspiratory vital capacity (IVC), hypercapnic ventilatory response (HCVR), daytime arterial oxygen saturation (SaO2), daytime arterial oxygen pressure (PaO2), daytime arterial carbon dioxide pressure (PaCO2), mean nocturnal SaO2, lowest nocturnal SaO2 and the standard deviation of the mean nocturnal SaO2. Multiple linear regression analysis showed that, apart from age, only the nadir of the nocturnal SaO2 contributed to the prediction of the attention. No clinically important short-term effect of oxygen or respiratory stimulating therapy on the attention performance was found.