A conceptual framework for reporting experience of physical activity in COPD.

Abstract

The importance of physical activity in chronic diseases is increasingly acknowledged. The amount of physical activity has been shown to predict mortality indirectly in patients suffering from multiple conditions [1], while physical inactivity is important predictor of the risk of hospital readmission, and associated with higher mortality in elderly [2] and in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) [3, 4]. However, even though physical activity represents one of the most intriguing extrapulmonary clinical aspects of patients suffering from COPD, there is little evidence that either pharmacological or nonpharmacological interventions ( e.g. counselling and rehabilitation) can enhance and durably maintain increased levels of physical activity in COPD or, conversely, that an increase in physical activity would result in favourable outcomes relevant to COPD patients [5]. Methods quantifying physical activity objectively, such as portable and wearable devices to monitor daily activities, are available and will allow further research on physical activity in COPD, and on its relation to the progression of the disease and the response to treatment [6–8]. COPD is traditionally measured by lung function, mainly forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1) and the FEV1/forced vital capacity ratio. FEV1 correlates poorly with important symptoms such as breathlessness and with the impact of the disease on daily life in COPD [9]; it is therefore important to complement lung function assessment with measures directly related to the patients’ experience of the disease, such as patient-reported outcomes (PROs), for a comprehensive …