Systemic effects of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in young-old adults’ life-space mobility

PURPOSE: The objective was to assess whether dyspnea, peripheral muscle strength and the level of physical activity are correlated with life-space mobility of older adults with COPD. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Sixty patients over 60 years of age (40 in the COPD group and 20 in the control group) were included. All patients were evaluated for lung function (spirometry), life-space mobility (University of Alabama at Birmingham Study of Aging Life-Space Assessment), dyspnea severity (Modified Dyspnea Index), peripheral muscle strength (handgrip dynamometer), level of physical activity and number of daily steps (accelerometry). Groups were compared using unpaired t-test. Pearson’s correlation was used to test the association between variables. RESULTS: Life-space mobility (60.41±16.93 vs 71.07±16.28 points), dyspnea (8 [7–9] vs 11 [10–11] points), peripheral muscle strength (75.16±14.89 vs 75.50±15.13 mmHg), number of daily steps (4,865.4±2,193.3 vs 6,146.8±2,376.4 steps), and time spent in moderate to vigorous activity (197.27±146.47 vs 280.05±168.95 minutes) were lower among COPD group compared to control group (p<0.05). The difference was associated with the lower mobility of COPD group in the neighborhood. CONCLUSION: Life-space mobility is decreased in young-old adults with COPD, especially at the neighborhood level. This impairment is associated to higher dyspnea, peripheral muscle weakness and the reduced level of physical activity.