Activity in contemporary healthy people and COPD

Quality of life represents a crucial aspect for the assessment of COPD patients. The level of daily activities is a determining factor and the degree of autonomy in movement is an important component that influences quality of life. Pedometry represents an alternative tool for estimating the degree of this activity. Aims: To compare the values, obtained by pedometry of COPD patients (GOLD stage III and IV) with the values of healthy subjects from the Euroregion Banat. Material and methods: We used pedometers to monitor 14 patients with COPD (not included in pulmonary rehabilitation) and 32 healthy subjects for a week, registering daily level and intensity of movement and detecting aerobic effort. Both groups had comparable demographic data and similar occupations. Results: Healthy individuals showed a significantly higher average of steps over a full week compared with COPD patients (6497±1866 vs. 3992±295, p Conclusions: We found a decrease in intensity of daily activity in healthy subjects, compared with data from literature, suggesting an increase of the sedentary style in general population. The degree of physical activity is significantly reduced in COPD compared with healthy people on both levels: aerobic and anaerobic effort. For both groups, periods of week-end reveal the lowest activity level.