Recreational activity limitation in subjects with and without COPD in five Latin American cities: The PLATINO study

COPD is a progressive and debilitating disease. With worsening disease, patients will progressively become less physically active, will have reduced social contacts, and this will create a downward vicious circle. Although much attention has focused on physical activity limitation, recreational and social activities limitation are also important to assess the burden of the disease. We examined the frequency of recreational activity limitation due to health and lung problem in a population-based study. We used post-bronchodilator FEV 1 /FVC Interviews were completed in 5,571 subjects and spirometry was performed in 5,314 subjects. There were 759 COPD and 4,554 individuals without COPD. Among subjects with COPD 81 (10.7%) reported recreation limitation due to health problem, compared with 404 (8.9%) of non-COPD subjects (p These results indicate that COPD is associated important limitation of recreational activities. Understanding the impact of COPD on participation into these activities is important for appreciating the overall burden of the disease.