[Effects of ambulatory respiratory rehabilitation on exercise tolerance and quality of life in chronic obstructive lung disease patients].

Respiratory rehabilitation is a multidisciplinary medical approach which allows a total care of patients suffering from COPD. Optimisation of bronchodilator treatment, health education, cessation of smoking, dietetic, relaxation and re-entrainment to effort. We report out experience concerning 88 BPCO (mean age 62.1, FEV1 of 1.4 litres; or 48% of predicted normal); these 88 patients were cared for on an ambulatory basis at our centre for two hours per session, three times per week for seven weeks. The objective results were analysed on exercise tests before and after treatment. For ventilation, there was a significant improvement in the power developed (from 45.5+/-17.1 to 53.4+/-23 watts; p<0.001) without any change in the oxygen consumption (VO2), ventilation (VE) or heart rate (FC) and of oxygen pulse (VO2/FC). For the same level of power (80% of maximum power for the initial exercise test) there was a significant lowering of ventilation (V=33.5+/-9.4 to 30.7+/-7.4 litres per minute, p<0.001), cardiac frequency (FC: from 116.9+/-16 to 111.1+/-13.1 beats per minute, p<0.001) as well as the oxygen pulse (VO2/FC: from 7.9+/-2.7 to 8.3+/-3.7). At the maximum on the exercise test all the parameters studied were significantly better: watts, VO2, VE, cardiac frequency and VO2/FC. A study of the visual analogue scale (EVA), analysing sleep, anxiety, dyspnoea and the physical aspects showed a significant improvement in the four subjective parameters. Respiratory rehabilitation of BPCO practiced as an out patient has shown an improvement in exercise tolerance in every day activities and improvement in dyspnoea and in the quality of life.