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Updated: Jul 4, 2026

Home-Based Prescribed Pulmonary Exercise in Patients with Stable Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease
Published on: August 24, 2019
Relationship between pulmonary function and physical activity in daily life in patients with COPD
Fábio Pitta1, Melina Y Takaki, Natália H de Oliveira
1Laboratório de Pesquisa em Fisioterapia Pulmonar (LFIP), Departamento de Fisioterapia, Universidade Estadual de Londrina (UEL), Rua Robert Koch, 60 Vila Operaria, 86038-440 Londrina, Paraná, Brazil. fabiopitta@uol.com.br
Background:
It remains unclear how closely the physical inactivity observed in patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) relates to the severity of their airflow limitation. Furthermore, it is unknown whether spirometric variables such as maximal voluntary ventilation (MVV) and inspiratory capacity (IC) reflect the level of physical activity in daily life better than the forced expiratory volume in the first second (FEV(1)), the main spirometric variable used to determine the severity of COPD. The objective of the present study was to investigate the relationship between physical activity in daily life and the severity of COPD assessed by different spirometric variables: MVV, IC and FEV(1).
Methods:
Forty patients with COPD (21 men; 68+/-7 years; FEV(1) 41+/-14% predicted) were performed spirometry and assessment of the physical activity level in daily life using an accelerometer (SenseWear Armband).
Results:
MVV was significantly correlated to total energy expenditure per day, energy expenditure per day in activities demanding more than 3 metabolic equivalents (METs), number of steps per day and time spent per day in moderate and vigorous activities (0.42
Conclusion:
In COPD patients, MVV better reflects the physical activity level in daily life than FEV(1) and IC.
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