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Home-Based Prescribed Pulmonary Exercise in Patients with Stable Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease
Published on: August 24, 2019
Does upper extremity exercise improve dyspnea in patients with COPD? A meta-analysis.
Lei Pan1, Yong Zhong Guo, Jun Hong Yan
1State Key Laboratory of Respiratory Disease, First Affiliated Hospital, Guangzhou Medical College, 151 Yanjiang Road, Guangzhou 510120, PR China.
Respiratory Medicine
|August 21, 2012
Summary
Unsupported upper extremity exercise (UUEE) may relieve dyspnea and arm fatigue in COPD patients during daily activities. However, current evidence suggests effects below the minimal clinically important difference, warranting further investigation.
Area of Science:
- Pulmonary Rehabilitation
- Cardiorespiratory Exercise Physiology
Background:
- Pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) guidelines recommend unsupported upper extremity exercise (UUEE).
- The efficacy of UUEE in improving dyspnea for patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) remains controversial.
- This meta-analysis aimed to clarify UUEE's impact on COPD dyspnea.
Purpose of the Study:
- To conduct a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) on UUEE in COPD patients.
- To evaluate the effect of UUEE on dyspnea and arm fatigue.
- To compare findings with the minimal clinically important difference (MCID).
Main Methods:
- Computerized literature search of PubMed and Embase databases up to March 2012.
- Methodological quality assessed using the PEDro scale.
- Meta-analysis of 7 RCTs involving 240 COPD patients, calculating weighted mean differences (WMDs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs).
Main Results:
- UUEE showed a trend towards relieving dyspnea and arm fatigue during activities of daily living (ADL) (WMD = -0.58, -0.55).
- However, these effects were below the MCID of 1 unit for the Borg scale.
- No statistically significant improvements in dyspnea or arm fatigue were observed during the intervention itself.
Conclusions:
- UUEE may offer benefits for dyspnea and arm fatigue during ADL in COPD patients, suggesting its inclusion in PR programs.
- Current clinical evidence supporting these benefits is limited and effects are below MCID.
- Further research is urgently needed to definitively establish the effects of UUEE on dyspnea and arm fatigue in COPD.
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