Depressive Symptoms, Anxiety, Insomnia, and Sexual Quality of Life in Patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease from the Podlaskie Voivodeship, Poland: A Cross-Sectional Pilot Study.

Introduction: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is associated with substantial symptom burden and functional limitations, which may co-occur with psychological distress. This pilot study aimed to assess depressive symptoms, anxiety, insomnia, and sexual quality of life in patients with COPD living in the Podlaskie Voivodeship. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional pilot study included 47 patients with COPD, including outpatients (n = 11) and inpatients (n = 36), recruited at the University Teaching Hospital in Bialystok between February and August 2025. The original survey questionnaire, Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale (HAM-A), Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7), Athens Insomnia Scale (AIS), Insomnia Severity Index (ISI), and Sexual Quality of Life (SQoL) questionnaires were used. Results: In the study sample, median scores indicated a considerable burden of depressive symptoms (BDI Me = 16), anxiety (HAM-A Me = 27; GAD-7 Me = 15), and insomnia (AIS Me = 9; ISI Me = 14), alongside reduced sexual quality of life (SQoL Me = 46). Age in the total sample correlated positively with depressive symptoms, anxiety, and sleep difficulties, and negatively with SQoL; however, these relationships were not consistently maintained in age-stratified analyses. Crude inpatient-outpatient differences were substantial, but supplementary adjusted models showed that subjective symptom severity was the most consistent predictor across outcomes, whereas the independent role of hospitalization status was attenuated. Strong associations were observed between depression, anxiety, insomnia, and sexual quality of life. Conclusions: This pilot study indicates a substantial within-sample psychological burden in patients with COPD and suggests that these outcomes are closely associated with subjective symptom burden. Given the small sample size, marked group imbalance, cross-sectional design, and lack of objective COPD severity measures, the findings should be interpreted as exploratory and require confirmation in larger multicenter studies.