High 24-Hour Respiratory Symptoms and Low Physical Activity in the Stable COPD Romanian Cohort of SPACE Study

Clinical effect of aerobic exercise training in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: A retrospective study

Aerobic exercise training is a kind of pulmonary rehabilitation for lung diseases. This was a retrospective study to assess the efficacy of aerobic exercise training in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) at a stable stage. A total of one hundred and fifty-six stable COPD patients who had accepted self-education only or self-education combined with an aerobic exercise training between January 2017 to January 2019 were reviewed retrospectively. A total of 79 patients who had received self-education combined with an aerobic exercise training schedule comprised the aerobic exercise training group (AET group) and 77 patients who had received self-education only were regarded as the education group (EDU group). The acute incidence rate in AET group was 7.6% better than that in EDU group 20.7% (P < .05). The AET group patients expressed higher levels of 6 minutes walking distance (6MWD) (P < .05) and better evaluations of both lung function (P < .05) and T lymphocyte immune response (P < .05), as well as significantly decreased chronic obstructive pulmonary disease assessment test (CAT) scores and modified British medical research council (mMRC) grades (P < .05). Patients in EDU group did not report any changes in any of these characteristics. The aerobic exercise training intervention contributed to an increasing in 6MWD and decrease in CAT scores and mMRC grades, as well as improving the T lymphocyte immune response in stable COPD patients.

Empowering Self-Efficacy by Using Patient Empowerment among Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease: Pre-Post-Test Study

Patient empowerment is increasingly acknowledged as a milestone of high-quality patient-centered care. This study was conducted using COPD Self-Efficacy Scale to determine the effectiveness of the patient empowerment intervention program among chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients on self-efficacy. We employed an interventional design with a pre-test and post-test. Sixty COPD patients comprised the final sample of the study. The current study revealed significant improvement in overall self-efficacy factors among most participants. Statistically significant positive correlations were found between the total self-efficacy post-empower intervention model scores concerning age, sex, work, educational level, and marital status. The study's findings revealed that the patient empowerment intervention program positively affected COPD patients' self-efficacy.

Clinical Features and Paraclinical Findings in Patients with SARS CoV-2 Pneumonia and the Impact of Pulmonary Rehabilitation on the Instrumental Activities of Daily Living in POST-COVID-19 Patients

The functional sequelae grouped under the name "long COVID" most often bring the patient in front of a team of specialists in pulmonary rehabilitation. The aim of this study was to evaluate clinical features and paraclinical findings in patients with SARS CoV-2 (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome-Corona Virus-2) pneumonia and to also evaluate the impact of rehabilitation in this category of patients. This study included 106 patients diagnosed with SARS CoV-2. The division of the patients into two groups was performed based on the presence of SAR-CoV-2 pneumonia. Clinical symptoms, biochemical parameters, and pulmonary functional and radiological examinations were recorded and analyzed. The Lawton Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADL) scale was applied to all patients. Patients in group I were included in the pulmonary rehabilitation program. Among demographic characteristics, age over 50 years (50.9%; p = 0.027) and the female sex (66%; p = 0.042) were risk factors for pneumonia in patients with SARS CoV-2. Over 90% of the 26 patients included in the rehabilitation program were less able to feed, bathe, dress, and walk. After 2 weeks, approximately 50% of patients were able to eat, wash, and dress. It is important to provide longer rehabilitation programs in cases of moderate, severe, and very severe COVID-19 patients, in order to significantly improve patients' participation in daily activities and their quality of life.

Kinesiotherapy and physical activity in COPD and Asthma Patients – A Review

Background: Obstructive chronic diseases are a continuous challenge for healthcare perfusionists all over the world. Asthma and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) are the most frequent of these diseases. Respiratory or pulmonary rehabilitation started to gain momentum and it is more frequently used to improve muscle strength, cardiac and respiratory endurance and joint flexibility. The objective of this paper is to establish the current programs of physical activity or kinesiotherapy used in the past year and to reveal if there are any gaps or mismatches in the development of the program or in the instruments used to quantify the results of the rehabilitation programs. Materials and methods: We reviewed a total number of 12 articles, randomized control trials using the search words kinesiotherapy, physical therapy, COPD and asthma from the last year on PubMed.gov, from 11 different countries in order to establish which have similar types of exercises, parameters used in order to compare results and which were the outcomes. Results: The final results are positive, although it is hard to determine a unity because there were so many different parameters used to monitor the patients. The most frequent parameter was the 6MWT used to compare the effectiveness of the physical program in 6 studies. Discussion and conclusions: This review had its limitation in comparing the 12 articles researched because of the different number of patients, the various physical activity and rehabilitation exercises used, but especially because of the many varieties of scales and scores used to monitor the effectiveness of the treatment. In order to successfully compare such papers, an international guideline is necessary to relay specific rehabilitation programs for every type of respiratory pathology and also which are the most recommended scales or scores or parameters in general to asses such rehabilitation programs. Keywords: kinesiotherapy; physical activity; physical therapy; COPD, asthma