Evaluation of Inflammatory Markers in Patients Undergoing a Short-Term Aerobic Exercise Program while Hospitalized due to Acute Exacerbation of COPD

INTRODUCTION: Acute exacerbation is an important factor for a worse prognosis in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). It promotes the increase of the inflammatory process and worsens quality of life, lung function, and muscle weakness. It is believed that physical exercise performed during the exacerbation breaks the vicious cycle of systemic manifestations without an increase in the inflammatory process. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the influence of short-term aerobic physical exercise during hospitalization on inflammatory markers. Patients and Methods. 26 patients were evaluated (69.2% female, FEV 137.5 ± 12.9%, and age 68.4 ± 11.6 years) 24 hours after hospitalization for smoking history, Charlson index, quality of life, systemic inflammatory markers, and body composition. After 48 hours of hospitalization, all patients underwent a 6-minute walk test (6MWT) and a new spirometry test, and BODE index was calculated. After 72 hours of hospitalization, patients in the intervention group underwent aerobic exercise on a treadmill for 15 minutes twice daily; before and after the aerobic exercise, blood samples were collected for evaluation of inflammatory markers. Finally, a month after hospital discharge, all patients were reevaluated according to systemic inflammatory markers, quality of life, body composition, spirometry, 6MWT, and BODE index. RESULTS: Patients of both groups did not differ in severity of disease and general characteristics. The intervention group did not show worsening in the inflammatory process after aerobic activity: TNF-α from 1.19 (0 99–1.71) to 1.21 (0.77–1.53) (p = 0.58), IL-6 from 2.41 (2.02–0.58) to 2.66 (1.69–0.48) (p = 0.21), and CRP from 3.88 (2.26–8.04) to 4.07 (2.65–13.3) (p = 0.56). There was a negative correlation between the IL-6 marker and the 6MWT; that is, with the reduction in inflammatory levels, there was an improvement in exercise capacity one month after hospital discharge. CONCLUSION: The present study showed that the aerobic physical activity initiated during hospitalization in patients with exacerbated COPD did not worsen the inflammatory process.