Long-term repercussions of a pulmonary rehabilitation program on the indices of anxiety, depression, quality of life and physical performance in patients with COPD.
OBJECTIVE
To assess the 24-month effects of a pulmonary rehabilitation program (PRP) on anxiety, depression, quality of life and physical performance of COPD patients.


METHODS
Thirty patients with COPD (mean age, 60.8 +/- 10 years; 70% males) participated in a 12-week PRP, which included 24 physical exercise sessions, 24 respiratory rehabilitation sessions, 12 psychotherapy sessions and 3 educational sessions. All patients were evaluated at baseline (pre-PRP), at the end of the treatment (post-PRP) and two years later (current) by means of four instruments: the Beck Anxiety Inventory; the Beck Depression Inventory; Saint George's Respiratory Questionnaire; and the six-minute walk test (6MWT).


RESULTS
The comparison between the pre-PRP and post-PRP values revealed a significant decrease in the levels of anxiety (pre-PRP: 10.7 +/- 6.3; post-PRP: 5.5 +/- 4.4; p = 0.0005) and depression (pre-PRP: 11.7 +/- 6.8; post-PRP: 6.0 +/- 5.8; p = 0.001), as well as significant improvements in the distance covered on the 6MWT (pre-PRP: 428.6 +/- 75.0 m; post-PRP: 474.9 +/- 86.3 m; p = 0.03) and the quality of life index (pre-PRP: 51.0 +/- 15.9; post-PRP: 34.7 +/- 15.1; p = 0.0001). There were no statistically significant differences between the post-PRP and current evaluation values.


CONCLUSIONS
The benefits provided by the PRP in terms of the indices of anxiety, depression and quality of life, as well as the improved 6MWT performance, persisted throughout the 24-month study period.
Godoy
Rossane Frizzo de
RF
Departamento de Psicologia, Instituto de Medicina do Esporte, Universidade de Caxias do Sul, Caxias do Sul, RS, Brasil.
Teixeira
Paulo José Zimermann
PJ
Becker Júnior
Benno
B
Michelli
Maurício
M
Godoy
Dagoberto Vanoni de
DV
D001007:Anxiety / Q000523:psychology*; D001938:Brazil; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D003863:Depression / Q000523:psychology* / Q000628:therapy; D005080:Exercise Test; D017079:Exercise Tolerance / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008347:Manifest Anxiety Scale; D008875:Middle Aged; D010353:Patient Education as Topic; D026741:Physical Therapy Modalities; D015397:Program Evaluation; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D011613:Psychotherapy; D029424:Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive / Q000523:psychology* / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology*; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires