Group training in patients with COPD - long-term effects after decreased training frequency

Abstract

Purpose: To investigate effects of decreased training frequency in patients with COPD.

Methods: Forty-three COPD patients participated in a controlled study. The intervention group (30 patients) trained 3 times a week during 3 months and once a week during 6 months. Before, after 3 and 9 months all patients performed walking tests, cycle ergometer tests and responded questionnaires on health-related quality of life (HRQoL) (SGRQ, SF-36).

Results: At 9 months compared to 3 months there were no changes in distance walked in the groups. Both groups decreased their VO2peak and the training group deteriorated in HRQoL. At 9 months compared to baseline the training group showed increased distance walked compared to the control group. In the disease-specific SGRQ the training group tended to improve their activity score while the control group tended to deteriorate in total score. In SF-36 the control group decreased their physical component score.

Conclusion: Training once a week does not seem to be sufficient to maintain the level achieved after the 3-month period of training in COPD patients. However, training once a week during 6 months preceded by 3 months of high frequency training seems to prevent deterioration in physical capacity and HRQoL compared to baseline. Further studies are needed to investigate how to best sustain the benefits gained after physical training.