Long-term effectiveness of an inpatient pulmonary rehabilitation program for elderly COPD patients: comparison between young-elderly and old-elderly groups.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the long-term effects of pulmonary rehabilitation in elderly COPD patients, we monitored patients for 1 year after they completed a 2-week inpatient pulmonary rehabilitation program. We also compared the effects of pulmonary rehabilitation on young-elderly (age 65-74 years) and old-elderly (age 75 years or over) COPD patients.


METHODS
Fifty-nine elderly COPD patients (mean age 72.8 years) were studied. They underwent a comprehensive 2-week inpatient pulmonary rehabilitation program incorporating 10 exercise sessions, each of which included endurance training of the lower extremities, peripheral muscle conditioning training of the upper and lower extremities, and stretching, along with various education sessions. The effects of pulmonary rehabilitation were evaluated at 3, 6, and 12 months after completion of the program.


RESULTS
Overall, patient health-related quality of life (HRQoL) as assessed by a QoL scale, and dyspnoea as assessed by an oxygen cost diagram, improved significantly over the 12-month period. Exercise capacity assessed by a 6-min walking distance test (6MWD) was similarly significantly improved. However, there was some fall-off in terms of the distance walked 12 months after pulmonary rehabilitation. The improvements in exercise capacity, dyspnoea, and HRQoL did not differ between the two groups, with the exception that the 6MWD (P < 0.01) and the QoL scale (P < 0.05) at 3 months post-pulmonary rehabilitation were significantly higher in the old-elderly group.


CONCLUSIONS
Pulmonary rehabilitation is an effective treatment in terms of improving dyspnoea, exercise capacity and HRQoL in elderly COPD patients, and the benefits are almost comparable for young-elderly and old-elderly patients.
Katsura
Hideki
H
Pulmonary Division, and Rehabilitation Division, Tokyo Metropolitan Geriatric Medical Center, Tokyo, Japan. katsurah@saikuri.org
Kanemaru
Akiko
A
Yamada
Kouichi
K
Motegi
Takashi
T
Wakabayashi
Ritsuko
R
Kida
Kozui
K
D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D004417:Dyspnea / Q000628:therapy; D017079:Exercise Tolerance; D005260:Female; D006760:Hospitalization; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D029424:Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D011788:Quality of Life; D012129:Respiratory Function Tests; D016896:Treatment Outcome