Effect of traditional Chinese exercise on pulmonary function in middle-aged and older patients with stable chronic...

Traditional Chinese exercise (TCE) has been shown effective for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). However, there are no studies investigating the effect of traditional Chinese exercise (TCE) programme on COPD. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of specific TCE programme on the pulmonary function in patients with COPD.

76 patients with COPD was randomly assigned to receive either TCE group or control group in a 1:1 ratio. The primary outcome was changes in forced vital capacity (FVC) from baseline to 12 weeks. Secondary outcomes included forced expiratory volume in the first second (FEV1), tidal volume (VT), inspiratory capacity (IC), expiratory reserve volume (ERV), FEV1/FVC, peak expiratory flow (PEF), the 6-min walking test (6MWT), the COPD Assessment Test (CAT), the Short Form 36-item Health Survey (SF-36), modified medical research council scale (mMRC).

After 12 weeks, the TCE group demonstrated a significantly greater improvement of FVC (-12.67; 95 % CI, -18.21 to -7.15; P < 0.001) and FEV1 (-9.70; 95 % CI, -13.73 to -5.68; P < 0.001). But there was no statistically significant difference between groups in FEV1/FVC, PEF, VT, IC or ERV. Besides, patients in the TCE group also reported a statistically significant within-group difference at week 12 in CAT, mMRC and 6MWT. As for eight dimensions of SF-36, patients in TCE group had higher scores in SF-36 (P < 0.05 for 8 dimensions).

Our results demonstrate that the traditional Chinese exercise can serve as an effective therapeutic tool for middle-aged and older patients with COPD.

Chinese Clinical Trial Registry, ChiCTR2300069283, https://www.chictr.org.cn/showproj.html?proj=192116.