Evaluation of sleep quality and daily sleepiness in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in pulmonary rehabilitation

Introduction: In addition to sleep disturbances, patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) have common clinical features such as hypoventilation and sleep disorders. The sleep of patients with COPD is of lower efficiency, higher latency for onset and fragmented. Studies have shown that physical exercise may aid in the treatment of disturbances of the sleep-wake cycle. Pulmonary Rehabilitation Program (PRP) associates aerobic and anaerobic exercises, with the purpose of improving the signs and symptoms of the disease. Objective: Identify if the PRP has an impact on the sleep quality and daily sleepiness of patients with COPD. Methods: 18 patients with moderate COPD who did not undergo treatment for sleep disorder and who quit smoking were recruited. The study was divided into two phases: 1- pre PRP and 2- post PRP. In phases 1 and 2, the Pittsburg scale for sleep quality assessment and the EPWORTH scale were used to assess the degree of daily sleepiness. Between phases 1 and 2 the patients performed 8 weeks of PR. Results: Regarding sleep quality, 33.3% presented good sleep quality; 44.4% had poor sleep quality and 22.3% had sleep disturbance during phase 1. In stage 2, 55.6% had good sleep quality, 27.7% had poor sleep quality and 16.7% had sleep disturbance. Sleep, with significant improvement in sleep efficiency and latency. As for daytime sleepiness, 72.2% did not present daily somnolence and 27.8% presented daytime sleepiness. There was no difference in outcome for the degree of daytime somnolence between phases 1 and 2. Conclusion: we observed that the PRP promotes the improvement in the sleep quality of patients with COPD.