The Role of Gender Regarding the Outcomes of Pulmonary Rehabilitation in Patients with COPD: A Retrospective Study

Abstract

PURPOSE: Our aim is to compare the pulmonary rehabilitation outcomes of male and female patients diagnosed with COPD. METHODS: Outpatient PR program, consisting of 16 sessions, two times a week for two months was applied to the patients with COPD (41 males, 41 females). arterial blood gas (ABG) analyzes and pulmonary function tests (PFT), 6-minute walking test (6MWT), dyspnea scale (mMRC), health-related quality of life (QoL) questionnaire (SF-36), disease-specific health status (SGRQ) were applied to all participants before and after PR. RESULTS: There was no statistically significant differences between the two groups before PR in terms of age, BMI, PFT parameters, and ABG results. Cigarette consumption was higher in men(p=0.02). Quality of life survey results (SGRQ, SF36), HAD anxiety, mMRC were similar in both groups before PR(p>0.05 for all).After PR, both clinical and statistically significant improvements were detected in 6mWD in both groups (p <0.001 for both). There was a significant improvement in all SGRQ scores in both genders (p<0.05 for all). While significant improvement was observed in all parameters of SF36 in women, significant improvement was found in only some parameters of SF36 in male patients. While HAD anxiety and depression scores significantly improved in female patients after PR, only anxiety score in male patients improved (p=0.004, p=0.002, p=0.021). CONCLUSION: This study showed that PR has had a positive effect on many outcome measures, regardless of gender. After PR; The walking distance and QoL scores increased, perception of dyspnea, anxiety and depression score decreased in women with COPD.

Keywords

• COPD
• pulmonary rehabilitation
• gender
• COPD, pulmonary rehabilitation, gender

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