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Objective:: To investigate the inter-rater and intra-rater reliability of the Brief Balance Evaluation System Test (Brief-BESTest) in people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and its correlation between the Brief-BESTest score and lung function, functional exercise capacity, functional lower limb strength, and fear of falling., Design:: Prospective, single-group, observational study., Setting:: Outpatient pulmonary rehabilitation program., Subjects:: People with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease who were attending a pulmonary rehabilitation program., Intervention:: Participants performed three Brief-BESTests on two separate days, assessed by two independent physiotherapists. Participants also performed a lung function test, two 6-minute walk tests, the five sit-to-stand test and completed the Fall Efficacy Scale International questionnaire., Results:: Thirty participants (mean (SD) age was 72 (7), forced expiratory volume in 1 second % predicted was 47 (16%), and baseline 6-minute walk distance was 427 (90) meters) completed the study. The interclass coefficients of the inter-rater and intra-rater reliability were 0.86 and 0.96, respectively. The Brief-BESTest score was moderately correlated with the 6-minute walk distance ( r = 0.49, P < 0.01) and the five sit-to-stand test time ( r =-0.54, P < 0.01). No adverse events were reported after the completion of 90 tests in this study., Conclusion:: The Brief-BESTest was shown to have good inter- and intra-rater reliability for measuring balance in people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. A moderate correlation was demonstrated between the Brief-BESTest balance score with functional exercise capacity and functional lower limb strength in this population.

This study aimed to determine the physical activity level of people admitted to hospital with an acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (AECOPD) and whether physical activity changed immediately after discharge and 6 weeks post hospital admission. In this prospective observational study, people admitted to hospital with an AECOPD had physical activity levels monitored using the SenseWear(®) Armband (model MF-SW) for 3 days in hospital (T1), during the first week at home following discharge (T2), and at home during the sixth week after admission (T3). Fifty participants (mean age (SD) 71 (10) years) completed the study. There was a linear increase in average steps per day over the three time periods (T1, mean (SD) 1385 (1972) steps/day; T2, 2040 (2680); T3, 2328 (2745); analysis of variance (ANOVA) p = 0.001) and time spent in moderate activity (3.0-6.0 metabolic equivalents; minutes/day) (T1, mean (SD) 16 (27) minutes/day; T2, 32 (46) minutes/day; T3, 35 (58) minutes/day; ANOVA p = 0.008). For both outcomes, post hoc t-tests showed significant improvements from T1 to T2 and from T1 to T3, but not between T2 and T3. Physical activity was low in hospital and significantly improved in the week after discharge but showed no further significant improvement at 6 weeks following a hospitalized AECOPD., (© The Author(s) 2015.)