Avaliação da capacidade cardiopulmonar nos indivíduos cadastrados no Programa de Controle ao Tabagismo Evaluation of cardiopulmonary capacity in individuals enrolled in a Tobacco Control Program

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) is a major cause of chronic morbidity and mortality worldwide, and a challenge to public health. Smoking habit is considered a major cause of preventable death, accounting for 80% of COPD cases. The monitoring of patients exposed to risk factors, such as smokers, and spirometric test have proven effective measures to assist in diagnosis of COPD. This study aimed to evaluate the cardiopulmonary capacity in individuals enrolled in a tobacco control program. The study was conducted in 09 health units of Criciuma/SC. Pulmonary function tests (spirometry) and six-minute walk tests were performed. 102 subjects participated with prevalence of females at 66.7%. Spirometric tests found that most smokers showed obstructive and/or restrictive characteristics, because FVC, PEF and FEV1 were below the predicted value. In addition, the six-minute walk test showed no significant difference (p < 0.01) when compared with the predicted and lower limit distance. Our results showed that the evaluation of cardiopulmonary capacity in smokers who seek health services for smoking cessation may be a useful tool for early diagnosis of COPD or to detect the development of pulmonary disease risks.