COPD patients may benefit from traditional Chinese exercise

A traditional Chinese exercise program that focuses on strengthening lungs helps improve pulmonary function, exercise capacity, and quality of life for middle-aged and older patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), as shown in a study.

A total of 76 patients, who were aged 50–80 years and had Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) of grade 1–3, were recruited and randomly allocated to either the exercise group (n=38; mean age 69.03 years, 65.6 percent male) or the control group (n=38; mean age 67.10 years, 77.4 percent male).

Patients in the control group were instructed to take their medication as prescribed for 12 weeks. Those in the exercise group received the same medication and underwent a 12-week traditional Chinese exercise program. The 12-week program consists of three weekly sessions wherein patients had to perform 45 minutes of lung-strengthening exercises.

Changes in forced vital capacity (FVC) from baseline to 12 weeks were evaluated as the primary outcome. Secondary outcomes were forced expiratory volume in the first second (FEV1), tidal volume (VT), inspiratory capacity (IC), expiratory reserve volume (ERV), FEV1/FVC, peak expiratory flow (PEF), the 6-min walking test (6MWT), the COPD Assessment Test (CAT), the Short Form 36-item Health Survey (SF-36), and modified medical research council scale (mMRC).

The 12-week data showed that compared with control, the exercise intervention was associated with a significantly greater improvement in FVC (−12.67, 95 percent confidence interval [CI], −18.21 to −7.15; p<0.001) and FEV1 (−9.70, 95 percent CI, −13.73 to −5.68; p<0.001). However, no significant between-group differences were seen in FEV1/FVC, PEF, VT, IC, or ERV.

Meanwhile, CAT, mMRC, and 6MWT improved significantly from baseline to week 12 for patients in the exercise group. Patients in the exercise group had higher scores across all eight dimensions of the SF-36 (p<0.05).