Interventions to Increase Physical Activity in Patients with COPD: A Comprehensive Review

Area of Science:

• Pulmonary Medicine
• Exercise Science
• Rehabilitation

Background:

• Traditional pulmonary rehabilitation is established, but non-traditional physical activity (PA) interventions for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) are less understood.
• The structure and efficacy of these alternative PA interventions require investigation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To outline the typical components of PA interventions in patients with COPD.
• To examine the outcome variables and effectiveness of these interventions.

Main Methods:

• A PRISMA-guided literature search was conducted from inception to April 2014.
• 20 studies involving 31 PA interventions were included after screening over 12,000 articles.
• Data on demographics, intervention components, PA outcomes, and effects were extracted and quality assessed.

Main Results:

• Interventions varied in duration, contact frequency, and delivery mode.
• Common behavior change techniques included providing information on PA execution and self-monitoring.
• Seven of 16 studies showed significant improvements in PA post-intervention, primarily using walking.

Conclusions:

• PA interventions for COPD patients, though variable in design, demonstrate potential for increasing physical activity levels.
• Walking emerged as a common and effective exercise type in successful interventions.