Personality disorders in pulmonary patients

A sample of 59 patients with asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases (COPD) was compared to matched samples of psychiatric patients and normal individuals with respect to personality disorders (PDs) assessed by a self‐report measure (VKP) (Duijsens, Eurelings‐Bontekoe, Diekstra & Ouwersloot, 1993 a, b ). The number of PDs differed significantly between pulmonary and psychiatric patients, while there was no significant difference between pulmonary patients and normal individuals. Comparison of the number of diagnosis criteria yielded significant contrasts between psychiatric patients versus the normal individuals and the pulmonary patients. Pulmonary patients and normal individuals showed significantly lower mean number of criteria met than matched psychiatric patients for nearly all of the diagnoses. It is concluded that PDs are no more prevalent in asthma and COPD patients than in the general population.