PULMONARY REHABILITATION RESPONSE IN ELDERLY AND YOUNGER PATIENTS WITH CHRONIC OBSTRUCTIVE PULMONARY DISEASE

Introduction: Pulmonary rehabilitation has been shown to improve exercise capacity, health status, anxiety and depression in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), but the response in younger and elderly patients has not been fully established. The aim of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of pulmonary rehabilitation in elderly people. Materials and Method: Younger (>= 65 years) and older (>65 years) patients with stable COPD underwent an 8 week outpatient pulmonary rehabilitation procedure twice weekly, along with home exercise training. Dyspnea, incremental shuttle walk distance, health status with St. George's Respiratory Questionnaire, anxiety and depression score were assessed before and after pulmonary rehabilitation. A comparison was made between younger and elderly patients. Results: The study group included 109 patients with COPD. There were 52 patients (mean age 58.96+/-4.63 yrs) in the younger group and 57 patients (mean age 73.58+/-5.75 yrs) in the elderly one. The increase in walking distance in younger patients was 76.86+/-93.18m (p<0.0001) and 34.64+/-60.35m (p<0.0001) in the elderly group after the data was compared to the baseline. In the younger group, the decrease in BORG score was -0.46+/-1.50 (p=0.04) whereas it was -0.12+/-0.96 (p=0.35) among the elderly patients. Although St. George's Respiratory Questionnaire and hospital anxiety-depression score improved significantly after pulmonary rehabilitation in younger patients, the improvement was only on the 'total' score in the elderly. Comparing the mean changes after pulmonary rehabilitation, both age groups showed similar improvements in dyspnea, St. George's Respiratory Questionnaire and hospital anxiety-depression score (p=NS). Only walking distance increased more in the younger ages after pulmonary rehabilitation (p=0.006). Conclusion: Elderly patients with COPD can benefit from pulmonary rehabilitation just as younger patients can and need not be excluded because of age.