Clinical Effects Of Intermittent Diaphragm Training In Stable Moderate To Severe COPD In The Elderly Patients

Objective: The purpose of this study is to observe the clinical efficacy of intermittent diaphragm training in the treatment of stable moderate to severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease（COPD）in elderly patients,to verify whether a simple pulmonary rehabilitation regimen could improve patients’ exercise capacity and quality of life,thereby to provide a novel clinical pathway for the treatment of patients suffering from COPD.Methods: This study is a prospective randomized controlled study.In this study,a total of 190 elderly patients with stable COPD who had been admitted to the outpatient clinic of the Department of Respiratory Medicine of Wuhan Central Hospital from September 2022 to December 2022 were collected,among which a total of 82 patients with moderate COPD previously diagnosed by pulmonary function test were randomly divided into experimental and control groups（n=41 cases,in each group）,while a total of 108 patients with severe COPD were randomly divided into experimental and control groups（n=54 cases,in each group）.The control group was given conventional treatment and health education,while the experimental group was given intermittent diaphragm training based on the control group,with the observation duration being 8 weeks.Pulmonary function indicators（FEV₁,FEV₁%,FVC,FEV₁/FVC%）,COPD Assessment test（CAT）,modified British medical research council（m MRC）questionnaire,and 6-minute walk test（6MWT）were measured in four groups of patients before and after the intervention,respectively,thus to evaluate the effect of intermittent diaphragm training in elderly stable patients with moderate to severe COPD.Results: After 8 weeks of treatment,the lung function indexes（FEV₁,FEV₁%,FVC,FEV₁/FVC%）,CAT test,mMRC questionnaire,and the 6MWT of the two experimental groups improved more significantly（P < 0.05）before and after the intervention compared with the control group.Conclusion:Intermittent diaphragm training for elderly stable patients with moderate to severe COPD can enhance pulmonary function indexes,CAT scores,mMRC scores,and 6 MWT scores,which is worth promoting in the clinic.