Exercise, physical activity and quality of life amongst COPD patients
Research type
Research Study
Full title
The Pace study- Describing self-reported physical activity, exercise and quality of life amongst COPD patients 3-12 months after pulmonary rehabilitation: a cross-sectional survey.
IRAS ID
213290
Contact name
Rachael Summers
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Southampton
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 7 months, 29 days
Research summary
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a lung disease which mostly affects people aged 50 and over. It is caused by changes in the airways that happen over time and make air flow into and out of the lungs hard. The disease comes on slowly and gets worse over time. People with COPD often have a cough, shortness of breath, trouble walking, tiredness and get chest infections more often.
Apart from medication, pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) is one of the best treatments for people with COPD. PR involves attending for group exercise and education classes (usually twice a week) for around 6 weeks. PR aims to help people with COPD live better with their condition; it is hoped that after the PR course ends those who have attended will continue to take part in regular physical activity and exercise. To date, PR has been shown to help reduce symptoms of COPD in the following 3 months after a PR intervention. No research has looked at the longer term exercise and physical activity habits of patients who have completed PR. This is an important gap given that PR is hoped to promote this.
Questionnaires will be sent by post to 200 people with COPD who have attended PR within the last 3-12 months. The questionnaires will explore:
1) How much physical activity and exercise patients report doing 3-12 months after completing PR.
2) What people with COPD think helps them to exercise and be physically active, and what can stop this.
3) How COPD is affecting their lives after completing PR using the Medical Research Council Breathlessness Scale and the COPD Assessment Tool.REC name
North West - Haydock Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
16/NW/0883
Date of REC Opinion
19 Dec 2016
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion