Evaluation methods of physical activity in COPD
Department of Respiratory Medicine, Wakayama National Hospital
The importance of evaluating and improving physical activity (PA) in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) has been recently recognized, and several methods, including a questionnaire, a pedometer, an accelerometer, and a metabolic monitoring method, have been employed. However, a standard method for evaluating PA in COPD patients has not been established. Among these methods, a questionnaire is less sensitive than an accelerometer, and a metabolic monitoring method is precise but difficult to use in clinical practice; thus a validated tri-axial accelerometer is most suitable for use as a method to evaluate the PA in these patients. The least reproducible data are collected on rainy days, holidays, days with special events, and those with a mean temperature of less than 2.5oC or more than 27.0oC and should be excluded. Suitable data from at least 3 days should be employed. Duration of activity according to the intensity and mean intensity of activity are better indexes. In daily clinical practice, it is important for clinicians to actively evaluate PA by using a pedometer or a uni- to tri-axial accelerometer, and enhance the motivation of patients to improve their PA.
Accelerometer Pedometer Reproducibility Measurement condition COPD
AJRS, 4(1): 8-14, 2015