Change in physical activity (PA) behavior assessed by accelerometry after home-based pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) in COPD

Background: the improvement of PA remains a major goal in COPD. Apart from the common benefits of PR, it is unclear which PA parameters assessed by accelerometry best reflect the change in daily physical activity behavior after a home-based PR. Aim: we hypothesized that the change in daily light PA is the most sensitive factor after a home based PR. Methods: 51 COPD patients undergoing home-based PR in 3 different cities in France were analyzed using accelerometers at the beginning and 6 months after home-based PR. Results: the time spent in light PA and the number of steps per day are increased, from 3:53 ± 1:49 to 4:16 ± 1:56 (p=0.003) and from 5362 ± 3176 to 5865 ± 3286 (p=0.039) respectively. We do not observe a change in time spent in moderate PA. Rainfall and daytime temperature influenced pedometry and light PA measures. Conclusion: an increase in time of light intensity PA was observed in patients undergoing a home-based PR, which represents an essential first step against sedentarity. This was not observed about the time in moderate PA which is the common goal in a general population. In chronic diseases such as COPD, we encourage the use of time in light PA that is most sensitive to depict the change in PA behavior.