Effect of 4 weeks of rehabilitation measured by 6 Minute Walking Test for males and females with moderate and serious Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

Abstract

This study is a part of a larger study that is being carried out among Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) patients at Glittreklinikken.

Glittreklinikken is a rehabilitaion clinic that offers patients with COPD 4 weeks of rehabilitation. Initially 200 patients of both sexes with moderate and serious COPD were asked to participate in the study, and in the end 60 men and 42 women completed the testing. Various data was recorded and the results compared between the two sexes, with focus on whether or not there was a significant difference in walking distance measured by 6 Minute Walking Test (6MWT) before and after four weeks of rehabilitation.

Recorded data were: Smoking, comorbibity, emergency hospitalization because of COPD during the last twelve months, heigth/weight/Body Mass Index, exacerbations treated with antibiotics/clucocorticoids during their stay at Glittreklinikken, spirometric data and gas diffusion test. 6MWT were registered on 2 occasions during the first 3 days of the patients' stay and once during the last 3 days of the stay, and pulse oximetry was performed before, during and after the 6MWTs. The results were tested with Student's t-test for quantitative data with a statistical significance of 0,05.

We found that men and women walked equal distances both before and after rehabilitation, and there was a significant improvement in walking distance after only 4 weeks of rehabilitation. This similarity between the sexes differs from findings in healthy individuals as described by Troosters et al in 1999, and we found no evident cause for this fact.