Whereas none of our subjects claimed to have dyspnea at rest, during control exercise at 60% of WLmax, dyspnea scores ranged between 3.5 and 9. With PLB, breathlessness increased in four of the eight patients, was relatively unaltered in two patients, and decreased in two patients (Fig 1). Effect of PLB on Breathing Pattern Individual […]
The significant correlations between the 2MWT and the 6MWT, V02max, and V02max/kg support the validity of the 2MWT as a measure of exercise capacity in COPD patients with moderate-to-severe disease. As anticipated, the strongest correlation was observed between the 2MWT and 6MWT, since they are both walking tests and their results were in agreement with […]
Part 2 of this study investigated the responsiveness of the 2MWT as a measure of change following a 5-week pulmonary rehabilitation program. Of the 15 subjects recruited to this program, 3 subjects dropped out due to poor motivation and 3 subjects failed the postassessment review due to acute exacerbations. Therefore, data from nine subjects (mean […]
Of the 47 subjects who were initially recruited to the study, two subjects dropped out because they had exacerbations during the assessment period. Demographic and anthropomorphic data, and pulmonary function test and exercise test results are shown in Tables 1, 2. Forty-five subjects (37 men and 8 women; mean age, 71.8 ± 8.3 years; mean […]
ECG activity was monitored continuously, and systemic arterial BP was registered every 2 min. Subjects were asked to quantify their perceived dyspnea and exertion by pointing at a 10-point modified Borg scale before and at the termination of the test. Wmax (measured in Watts) was defined as the highest work level reached, and Vo2max (measured […]
2MWT: This test was administered according to the protocol as described by Guyatt et al. Subjects were asked to walk as far as they could in 2 min, back and forth along an indoor premeasured corridor of 30 m. Subjects were allowed to rest during the 2-min time period, and no encouragement was given during […]
The exclusion criteria included dementia, concomitant heart failure, diseases with mobility impairment, and medical conditions that were contraindicated for exercise testing according to American Thoracic Society (ATS) guidelines., After completing the data collection for the first part of the study, 15 of these patients joined a 5-week intensive pulmonary rehabilitation program and were recruited into […]