Benefits of Exercise in COPD

People with chronic pulmonary obstructive disease (COPD) are invariably told to exercise, but often they don’t take much notice – they feel too unwell. COPD is really two conditions: chronic bronchitis (inflammation and eventual scarring of the lining of the bronchial tubes) and emphysema (destruction of air sacs, or alveoli in the lungs where oxygen is exchanged for carbon dioxide); both conditions result in obstruction of the normal airflow. And COPD is the fourth leading cause of death in the USA. Oxygen, bronchodilating drugs, and corticosteroids are the mainstay of treatment. However, a new Danish study, reported in the journal Thorax, shows that exercise has a therapeutic effect.

Over 2350 patients were recruited in Copenhagen in the early 1980s and1990s. Self-reported levels of physical activity were recorded at baseline, and the patients were followed until 2000. The levels used were: very low (virtually none), low (e.g. biking or walking for less than 2 hours a week), moderate (2-4 hours a week), and high (more than 4 hours a week, or equivalent). Those in the upper 3 categories were 28% less likely to be hospitalized for COPD than those in the lowest group. Moreover, these groups had reductions in all-cause, respiratory, and cardiovascular mortality of 24%, 30%, and 23%, respectively.

COPD is a distressing disease, and is associated with depression in many patients – not surprisingly.  Exercise will help lift the depression, too.