Correlation Between Exercise Capacity and Quality of Life in Patients With Cardiac Disease.

PURPOSE: Patients are referred to exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation (ECR) to increase exercise capacity and health-related quality of life (HRQOL) and thereby reduce risk of morbidity and mortality. The purpose of this study was to examine the correlation between exercise capacity and HRQOL. Furthermore, this study examined whether improvements in HRQOL were directly related to improvements in exercise capacity. METHODS: The study included 277 patients participating in ECR. HRQOL was assessed using the Medical Outcomes Study 36-item Short Form Health Survey (SF-36), and exercise capacity was measured as peak oxygen uptake ((Equation is included in full-text article.)O2peak) and oxygen uptake ((Equation is included in full-text article.)O2) at the ventilatory threshold (VTh). Patients were examined before and after completion of an 8-wk ECR program. RESULTS: Analyses at baseline showed a significant correlation between (Equation is included in full-text article.)O2peak and VTh and physical functioning (PF), role limitations because of physical problems (RP), general health perceptions (GH), vitality (VT), and physical component summary (PCS) on the SF-36; PF was the only dimension showing a moderate correlation (>0.40 Spearman ρ) with (Equation is included in full-text article.)O2peak. The follow-up analyses demonstrated a significant correlation between changes in (Equation is included in full-text article.)O2peak and changes in PF, RP, VT, and MH. Changes in (Equation is included in full-text article.)O2 peak explained 4% of the changes in the PF and VT scores. CONCLUSION: The correlations between exercise capacity and HRQOL were weak and varied considerably among patients. The ECR program improved both exercise capacity and HRQOL, but it was not necessarily the same patients who improved both parameters. Therefore, it is recommended to use separate objective measures and patient-reported outcomes when evaluating the effect of ECR.

The effects of respiratory physiotherapy after lung resection: Protocol for a systematic review.

BACKGROUND: The main treatment of lung cancer (stage 1 and 2) is lung resection surgery. The risk of postoperative pulmonary complications is high and therefore standard postoperative care involves respiratory physiotherapy. The purpose of this systematic review is to create an overview of the evidence on respiratory physiotherapy after lung resection surgery on mortality rate (within 30 days) and postoperative pulmonary complications. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: The review will include randomized or quasi-randomized controlled studies investigating the effect of all types of respiratory physiotherapy on mortality and postoperative pulmonary complications after lung resection surgery. Furthermore, the effect of respiratory physiotherapy is evaluated on secondary outcomes such as length of hospital stay, lung volumes and function, and adverse events. The method of the planned review is described in this paper. The literature search will include the databases PubMed, Cochrane (Central), Embase, Cinahl and PEDro. The literature search is being performed in 2017. If meta-analyses are not undertaken, a narrative synthesis of the available data will be provided. The protocol was registered in PROSPERO on the 10th of October 2016 (registration number CRD42016048956). ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: Conclusion of this systematic review is expected available in the second half of 2017.