[Assessment of physical activities from functional physical fitness tests research for patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease].

The purpose of this study was to determine whether the level of physical activity (as measured by 12 functional physical fitness tests) differed between patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and normal subjects. Fifty male patients with COPD (70.4 +/- 7.1 yr) and 193 age-matched normal subjects (71.2 +/- 5.2 yr) participated in the study. We administered twelve functional physical fitness tests that were designed to represent muscle strength, muscular endurance, reaction, flexibility, balance, regulation and manipulation. Cardiorespiratory fitness was measured by an incremental, symptom-limited exercise test to the maximal tolerable level on a cycle ergometer, and by the 6-min walk distance. Further, we evaluated what the relationships were between cardiorespiratory fitness and physical activities. The results showed that there were significant differences between COPD and normal groups in cardiorespiratory fitness [peak oxygen uptake (15.7 +/- 4.8 ml/kg/min vs. 23.9 +/- 6.5 ml/kg/min, p < 0.05), peak load (77.9 +/- 33.7 watts vs. 110.3 +/- 37.9 watts, p < 0.05) and 6-min walk distance (466.4 +/- 106.3 m vs. 540.4 +/- 78.3 m, p < 0.05)] and muscular endurance [arm curl (22.6 +/- 5.0 rep/30 s vs. 25.2 +/- 6.0 rep/30 s, p < 0.05), Keeping a half-squat position (32.6 +/- 16.4 s vs. 42.8 +/- 17.7 s, p < 0.05)] and regulation (27.2 +/- 9.4 s vs. 23.3 +/- 5.8 s, p < 0.05) in functional physical fitness test. There were significant correlations between cardiorespiratory fitness, and muscular endurance and regulation. Furthermore, there were significant correlations between FEV1.0 and FEV1.0% pred, and regulation. Therefore, it is important that, besides exercise prescriptions based on the criteria of symptom-limited exercise tests, development of exercise programs based on the level of physical activities may be necessary for patients with COPD.