Pulmonary rehabilitation improves lung function and exercise tolerance in elderly non-surgical NSCLC patients

To evaluate the clinical efficacy and safety of pulmonary rehabilitation exercise training in improving lung function, exercise tolerance, cancer-related fatigue, and quality of life in elderly patients with non-surgical non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

A total of 186 elderly NSCLC patients who received non-surgical treatment at The First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical and Pharmaceutical College from April 2023 to October 2024 were retrospectively enrolled. Among them, 95 received routine treatment (control group), and 91 received pulmonary rehabilitation training in addition to routine treatment (rehabilitation group). The intervention lasted 8 weeks. Evaluation indicators included lung function, exercise tolerance, respiratory function, cancer-related fatigue, quality of life, negative emotions, and sleep quality. Adverse reactions were also recorded.

By week 4, the social and emotional function in the EORTC QLQ-C30 showed no significant improvement, but by week 8, the rehabilitation group exhibited significantly better outcomes than the control group. Moreover, the rehabilitation group demonstrated significantly greater improvements in lung function, exercise tolerance, respiratory symptoms, cancer-related fatigue, and psychological status than the control group at week 8 (P<0.05). In addition, the incidence of adverse reactions in the rehabilitation group was significantly lower (P<0.05).

Pulmonary rehabilitation training can effectively improve lung function and exercise capacity in elderly non-surgical NSCLC patients, alleviate fatigue and anxiety, enhance quality of life, and is safe for clinical application.