The considerable growth in the science and application of pulmonary rehabilitation since 2006 adds further support for its efficacy in a wide range of individuals with chronic respiratory disease.

Summary Background Physical activity (PA) has been reported to be reduced in severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Studies in moderate COPD are currently scarce. The aim of the present study was to investigate physical activity in daily life in patients with COPD (n = 70) and controls (n = 30). Methods A multi-center controlled study was conducted. PA was assessed using a multisensor armband device (SenseWear, BodyMedia, Pittsburgh, PA) and is reported as the average number of steps per day, and the time spent in mild and moderate physical activity. Results Patients suffered from mild (n = 9), moderate (n = 28), severe (n = 23) and very severe (n = 10) COPD. The time spent in activities with mild (80 ± 69 min vs 160 ± 89 min, p < 0.0001) and moderate intensity (24 ± 29 min vs 65 ± 70 min; p < 0.0036) was reduced in patients compared to controls. The number of steps reached 87 ± 34%, 71 ± 32%, 49 ± 34% and 29 ± 20% of control values in GOLD-stages I to IV respectively. The time spent in activities at moderate intensity was 53 ± 47%, 41 ± 45%, 31 ± 47% and 22 ± 34% of the values obtained in controls respectively with increasing GOLD-stage. These differences reached statistical significance as of GOLD stage II (p < 0.05). No differences were observed among centers. Conclusions Physical activity is reduced early in the disease progression (as of GOLD-stage II). Reductions in physical activities at moderate intensity seem to precede the reduction in the amount of physical activities at lower intensity.

Complete surgical resection is the most effective curative treatment for lung cancer. However, many patients with lung cancer also have severe COPD which increases their risk of postoperative complications and their likelihood of being considered “inoperable.” Preoperative Pulmonary Rehabilitation (PR) has been proposed as an intervention to decrease surgical morbidity but there is no established protocol and no randomized study has been published to date. We tested two preoperative PR interventions in patients undergoing Lung Cancer resection and with moderate-severe COPD in a randomized single blinded design. Outcomes were length of hospital stay and postoperative complications. The first study tested 4 weeks of guideline-based PR vs.usual care: that study proved to be very difficult to recruit as patients and providers were reluctant to delay surgery. Nine patients were randomized and no differences were found between arms. The second study tested ten preoperative PR sessions using a customized protocol with nonstandard components (exercise prescription based on self efficacy, inspiratory muscle training, and the practice of slow breathing) (n=10) vs.usual care (N=9). The PR arm had shorter length of hospital stay by 3 days (p=0.058), fewer prolonged chest tubes (11% vs. 63%, p=0.03) and fewer days needing a chest tube (8.8vs.4.3 days p=0.04) compared to the controlled arm. A ten-session preoperative PR intervention may improve post operative lung reexpansion evidenced by shorter chest tube times and decrease the length of hospital stay, a crude estimator of post operative morbidity and costs. Our results suggest the potential for short term preoperative Pulmonary Rehabilitation interventions in patients with moderate-severe COPD undergoing curative lung resection. 4 weeks of conventional preoperative PR seems non feasible.

There is an urgent need for consensus on what defines a chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) self-management intervention. We aimed to obtain consensus regarding the conceptual definition of a COPD self-management intervention by engaging an international panel of COPD self-management experts using Delphi technique features and an additional group meeting.In each consensus round the experts were asked to provide feedback on the proposed definition and to score their level of agreement (1=totally disagree; 5=totally agree). The information provided was used to modify the definition for the next consensus round. Thematic analysis was used for free text responses and descriptive statistics were used for agreement scores.In total, 28 experts participated. The consensus round response rate varied randomly over the five rounds (ranging from 48% (n=13) to 85% (n=23)), and mean definition agreement scores increased from 3.8 (round 1) to 4.8 (round 5) with an increasing percentage of experts allocating the highest score of 5 (round 1: 14% (n=3); round 5: 83% (n=19)).In this study we reached consensus regarding a conceptual definition of what should be a COPD self-management intervention, clarifying the requisites for such an intervention. Operationalisation of this conceptual definition in the near future will be an essential next step.

Health coaching may represent a feasible and possibly effective intervention designed to reduce COPD readmissions. Clinical trial registered with www.clinicaltrials.gov (NCT01058486).

After a systematic review of the literature, we found that exercise capacity, expressed as VO2max, is lower in patients that develop clinically relevant complications after curative lung resection. These results are important for the practicing clinician because they answer the literature controversy on the usefulness of measuring preoperative exercise capacity and reinforce the current guidelines on decision making for lung resection.

There is increasing interest in the objective measurement of physical activity in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients due to the close relationship between physical activity level, health, disability and mortality. We aimed to (a) determine the validity and reproducibility of an activity monitor that integrates accelerometry with multiple physiologic sensors in the determination of energy expenditure in COPD subjects and (b) to document the independent contribution of the additional physiologic sensors to accelerometry measures in improving true energy expenditure determination. Eight subjects (4 male, FEV 1 56.4 ± 14.1%, RV 145.0 ± 75.7%) performed 2 separate 6-minute walk and 2 incremental shuttle walk exercise tests. Energy expenditure was calculated during each exercise test using the physiologic activity monitor and compared to a validated exhaled breath metabolic system. Test-retest reproducibility of physiologic activity monitor during the walking tests was comparable to an exhaled breath metabolic system. Physiologic sensor data significantly improved the explained variance in energy expenditure determination (r 2 = 0.88) compared to accelerometry data alone (r 2 = 0.68). This physiologic activity monitor provides a valid and reproducible estimate of energy expenditure during slow to moderate paced walking in a laboratory setting and represents an objective method to assess activity in COPD subjects.

Fatigue is a disabling, multifaceted symptom that is highly prevalent and stubbornly persistent. Although fatigue is a frequent complaint among patients with fibromyalgia, it has not received the same attention as pain. Reasons for this include lack of standardized nomenclature to communicate about fatigue, lack of evidence-based guidelines for fatigue assessment, and a deficiency in effective treatment strategies. Fatigue does not occur in isolation; rather, it is present concurrently in varying severity with other fibromyalgia symptoms such as chronic widespread pain, unrefreshing sleep, anxiety, depression, cognitive difficulties, and so on. Survey-based and preliminary mechanistic studies indicate that multiple symptoms feed into fatigue and it may be associated with a variety of physiological mechanisms. Therefore, fatigue assessment in clinical and research settings must consider this multi-dimensionality. While no clinical trial to date has specifically targeted fatigue, randomized controlled trials, systematic reviews, and meta-analyses indicate that treatment modalities studied in the context of other fibromyalgia symptoms could also improve fatigue. The Outcome Measures in Rheumatology (OMERACT) Fibromyalgia Working Group and the Patient Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS) have been instrumental in propelling the study of fatigue in fibromyalgia to the forefront. The ongoing efforts by PROMIS to develop a brief fibromyalgia-specific fatigue measure for use in clinical and research settings will help define fatigue, allow for better assessment, and advance our understanding of fatigue.