An evaluation of the short physical performance battery following pulmonary rehabilitation in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

Abstract

ObjectiveThere is a need for simple tools to evaluate physical performance in patients with COPD before and after pulmonary rehabilitation. The aims of this study were to evaluate changes in short physical performance battery (SPPB)-scores in patients with COPD after a 4-week pulmonary rehabilitation program; explore possible relationships between SPPB-scores and exercise capacity (6-min walk distance), dyspnea (modified Medical Research Council’s dyspnea scale), disease-specific quality of life (COPD assessment test), and pulmonary function (predicted forced expiratory volume in one second) at baseline; and explore if changes in SPPB-scores are related to changes in exercise capacity, dyspnea, and disease-specific quality of life following pulmonary rehabilitation.ResultsForty-five patients with COPD were included in the final analysis. SPPB-scores improved following pulmonary rehabilitation (mean change: 1.2 ± 1.7 points, p < 0.001). There were moderate correlations between SPPB-scores and exercise capacity (r = 0.50, p < 0.001) and dyspnea (r = − 0.45, p = 0.003) at baseline, but not with pulmonary function or disease-specific quality of life. Changes in SPPB-scores were not associated with changes in exercise capacity or dyspnea scores. The SPPB may be a useful tool for evaluating physical performance in COPDTrial registration ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02314338, December 11, 2014.

Short-Physical Performance Battery (SPPB) score is associated with postoperative pulmonary complications in elderly patients undergoing lung resection surgery: A prospective multicenter cohort study

“…Thirdly, SPPB can have a ceiling effect affecting highly functioning patients. 9 In this study, 25.6% of the subjects had a full score on SPPB, and the effect of the ceiling effect of SPPB can't be denied. Therefore, SPPB may not be suitable for highly functional patients awaiting lung resection surgery.…”

A trauma medical home, evaluating collaborative care for the older injured patient: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial

“…This is anticipating 30% lost to follow-up or death at the 12-month assessment. This sample size estimation is based on previous literature utilizing the Short Performance Physical Battery (SPPB) score [ 12 , 22 – 25 ]. Assuming a mean SPPB score of 6.0 (SD 2.5), a sample size of 150 is needed to obtain 80% power and to detect a change score of 0.81, using a two-sample t test at 0.05.…”

Dyspnea is associated with poor physical performance among community-dwelling older adults: a population-based cross-sectional study

“…Among the results obtained, poor physical performance in the sit-and-rise test increased the likelihood of occurrence of moderate to severe dyspnea by 85% among older individuals when they exerted effort. This result suggests that an association between lower-limb function and the sensation of dyspnea was present even after adjustment for frailty condition.Similarly, Larsson et al5 detected a significant correlation between better physical performance in the sit-and rise test (assessed using the SPPB) and lower dyspnea scores (from the mMRC) among patients of average age with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) aged on average 69 ± 6 years. Although the health condition of the population evaluated in their study differed from that of the present sample, their finding is supported by our results.…”

“…Among the factors that favor the onset of this symptom, reduced exercise tolerance and a low level of physical activity seem to contribute to a decline in physical performance during activities of daily life. 2,4 Vaz Fragoso et al 4 and Larsson et al 5 reported that poor physical performance assessed on the basis of lower-limb performance in physical tests such as sitting and rising from a chair is associated with an increase in dyspnea among both robust older adults and older adults with frailty and/or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).…”

“…There is some mention of the health-impairing consequences of dyspnea or poor physical performance in the literature, but only under specific conditions involving populations of older subjects with COPD, postoperative situations, frailty and depressive symptoms. [5][6][7] Since dyspnea is a nonspecific symptom associated with adverse outcomes such as exercise intolerance, physical disability and increased mortality among older adults, investigation of dyspnea, allied with evaluation of physical performance, is important. It needs to be borne in mind that a large proportion of older adults who report dyspnea do not have any previously installed cardiopulmonary impairment.…”