Laboratory of Research in Respiratory Physiotherapy, Department of Physiotherapy, Londrina State University (UEL), Londrina, Brazil.
Biological and Health Sciences Research Center, Unopar Pitágoras University (UNOPAR), Londrina, Brazil.
COPD. 2020 Dec;17(6):623-626. doi: 10.1080/15412555.2020.1813270. Epub 2020 Nov 25.
Increasing physical activity (PA) is a complex and challenging task in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). However, some questions are raised regarding the evaluation of PA in these patients: Have all aspects of PA evaluation in patients with COPD already been explored in the scientific literature and clinical practice? What is the clinical importance of assessing PA inequality? PA inequality is defined as the Gini coefficient (Gini) of the PA distribution of a population and is already shown to have implications for public health in the general population. It is a simple tool that might allow a better understanding of PA disparities among different COPD populations, although to our knowledge there is no previous investigation of PA inequality in patients with COPD using the Gini. In this perspective study we have provided examples of the Gini use in different scenarios. Future studies might try to apply it in order to identify subpopulations with higher PA inequality, and perhaps are therefore more prone to benefit most from interventions specifically tailored to promote PA. In summary, we propose the quantification of PA inequality with the Gini as a tool that might allow us to see PA even more comprehensively than we already do, expanding our perspective on PA in patients with COPD.
在慢性阻塞性肺疾病（COPD）患者中增加身体活动（PA）是一项复杂且具有挑战性的任务。然而，对于这些患者的 PA 评估，仍存在一些问题：COPD 患者的 PA 评估的所有方面是否已经在科学文献和临床实践中得到探讨？评估 PA 不平等的临床意义是什么？PA 不平等是指人群 PA 分布的基尼系数（Gini），已经表明其对一般人群的公共卫生有影响。这是一个简单的工具，可能可以更好地理解不同 COPD 人群之间的 PA 差异，尽管据我们所知，以前没有使用基尼系数对 COPD 患者的 PA 不平等进行过研究。在本观点研究中，我们提供了基尼在不同情况下使用的示例。未来的研究可能会尝试应用它，以确定 PA 不平等程度更高的亚人群，也许这些人群更有可能从专门针对促进 PA 的干预措施中受益最多。总之，我们提出用基尼量化 PA 不平等，作为一种工具，使我们能够更全面地看待 PA，甚至比我们现在看到的更全面，扩大我们对 COPD 患者 PA 的看法。
