Pulmonary Rehabilitation in Patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease and Metabolic Syndrome

Abstract

Background: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is widespread and often combined with other diseases, including metabolic syndrome (MS), which are closely related. The purpose of this study was to assess the clinical efficacy of a PR program for patients with COPD and MS, in addition to standard therapy. Materials and Methods: We examined 70 patients with COPD and MS. The patients were divided into 2 groups. Group I included 35 patients who received standard pharmacologic therapy in combination with PR. Group II included 35 patients who received only standard pharmacologic therapy. Results: Group I patients demonstrated a decrease in exacerbation events from 3.96±0.43 to 2.24±0.10 (p=0.0002), in emergency service calls from 3.80±0.37 to 1.59±0.25 (p=0.0000), and in hospital admissions from 2.93±0.11 to 1.41±0.24 (p=0.0004) per year, as well as a significant decrease in the severity of COLD symptoms, improvements in exercise tolerance, MS components and QL, compared to Group II. Conclusion: The main benefits of a comprehensive PR program for patients with COPD and MS include a decrease in symptoms (dyspnea and fatigue), improvements in exercise tolerance, and reduction in health care utilization (particularly bed-days), as well as an increase in physical activity and an improvement in MS components.

Keywords

• chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
• metabolic syndrome
• pulmonary rehabilitation
• quality of life