Interstitial lung diseases (ILD) are devastating diseases that leads to significant physical and functional impairments leading to frailty syndrome. Although pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) is feasible in this population, its benefits on exercise tolerance and functional mobility in regard to frailty status remain unknow. We thus aimed to assess the effect of PR on exercise tolerance and mobility in ILD participants, according to their frailty status.
Exercise capacity on 6-minute walking test (6MWT) and 1-minute sit-to stand test (1STS) and functional mobility on Short physical performance battery test (SPPB) have been measured in 27 patients with ILD before and after a 8-weeks of PR program. Pre-frailty and frailty were considered from a score ? 10 and 8/10 on the SPPB score, respectively.
At inclusion 14, 11 and 2/27 of participants were non-frail, pre-frail and frail, respectively. At the end of PR, 11, 11 and 0/22 participants were non-frail, pre-frail and frail, respectively. Responsiveness to PR (? Post-Baseline Estimates (95%CI)) according to frailty status is detailed in the figure below.
|
All (n=22) |
Non-frail (n=11) |
Fail (n=0) and prefrail (n=11) |
|
| 6MWT (m) | 14.9 (-.5 to 30.4) | 10.0 (-19.0 to 39.0) | 19.5 (.84 to 38.1) |
| 1 STS (repetition) ) | .73 (.23 to 1.22) | .70 (-.20 to 1.60) | .75 (-.80 to 1.42) |
| 5 sit-to-stand (sec) | -1.65 (-2.79 to -.51) | -.45 (-.98 to .80) | -2.6 (-4.63 to -.65) |
| 4 meters gait speed (m/s) | -.01 (-.07 to 0.59) | .18 (-.07 to .10) | -03 (-.07 to .10) |
| SPPB score | .73 (.27 to 1.19) | -1 (-.43 to .63) | 1,3 (-.64 to 1.86) |
Conclusion: PR is effective to improve exercise tolerance and functional mobility in ILD patients. PR seems to be a promising strategy to improve frailty status.