EXERCISE AND HEALTH RELATED QUALITY OF LIFE IN MALE AND FEMALE CHRONIC OBSTRUCTIVE PULMONARY DISEASE PATIENTS

Abstract

1832 The primary aim of this investigation was to determine the extent to which male and female patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) improved their health related quality of life (HRQL) as a result of exercise training. Forty-four pairs of male and female COPD patients, matched on age and disease severity, participated in a 12 week exercise rehabilitation program consisting of walking and upper extremity strength training. HRQL, using general and disease specific questionnaires, was measured at baseline and follow-up. General HRQL assessed changes in physical, emotional and social function, health perceptions and life satisfaction. Both male and female patients reported significant increases in physical function following exercise training (5.50±1.33 and 8.73±1.67 units, respectively). These improvements were not significantly different (p > 0.05) from one another. Neither male nor female patients made significant improvements in any of the other domains of general HRQL. Disease specific HRQL was measured using the chronic respiratory disease questionnaire and assessed changes in the domains of dyspnea, fatigue, emotion and mastery. Both male and female patients made similar significant improvements in dyspnea (0.59±0.14 and 0.86±0.17 units, respectively) and fatigue (0.59±0.14 and 0.59±0.14 units, respectively). There was a trend for both male (p=0.09) and female (p=0.06) patients to improve mastery (0.14±0.08 and 0.21±0.11 units, respectively). Neither male nor female patients made significant improvements in emotion. These results suggest that male and female patients with COPD will achieve similar HRQL improvements as a result of participating in an exercise rehabilitation program. Supported NIH HL53755