Pulmonary Rehabilitation on Small Airways Function in COPD Patients

Abstract

Background: The importance of pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) is known to be therapeutically useful for COPD patients.

Objective: To evaluate the effects of PR program of pursed lip breathing (PLB) and diaphragmatic breathing (DB) on FEF25-75% and FEF50% in male patients with moderate stable COPD.

Methods: This prospective study was conducted in the Department of Physiology, BSMMU, Dhaka from July 2010 to June 2011 on 116 male stable moderate COPD patients aged 50 to 65 years. They were enrolled from the outpatient department (OPD) of the Department of Medicine of BSMMU and NIDCH Dhaka. All the patients were grouped as control (56 patients without PR) and experimental (60 patients with PR). The experimental patients were advised to perform the PR program for 30 minutes duration per session at home twice daily, for consecutive 60 days along with the standard drug treatment of COPD. The control patients were advised to continue their standard drug treatment alone for consecutive 60 days. For the assessment of small airways function status, FEF25-75% and FEF50% were recorded of all the subjects on day 0 and day 60 for both the groups by a portable digital MicroDL Spirometer and the statistical analysis was done by independent sample 't' test and paired Student's 't' test.

Results: Significant improvement were observed in FEF25-75% and FEF50% in patients who performed PR program.

Conclusion: The study concludes the improvement of small airways function with this sort of combination of PR program in stable COPD patients

J. Dhaka National Med. Coll. Hos. 2016; 22 (01): 29-32