Impact of Previous Physical Activity Levels on Symptomatology, Functionality, and Strength during an Acute Exacerbation in COPD Patients López López, Laura Torres Sánchez, Irene Romero-Fernández, Ramón Granados Santiago, María Rodríguez-Torres, Janet Valenza, Marie Carmen COPD Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease Physical activity The main objective of this study is to determine the relationship between physical activity (PA) level prior to hospitalization and the pulmonary symptomatology, functionality, exercise capacity, and strength of acute exacerbated chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients. In this observational study, all data were taken during the patient’s first day in hospital. Patients were divided into two groups (a PA group, and a physical inactivity (PI) group), according to the PA level evaluated by the Baecke questionnaire. Cough status was evaluated by the Leicester Cough Questionnaire (LCQ), and dyspnea was assessed using the modified Medical Research Council dyspnea scale (mMRC). Functionality was measured by the Functional Independence Measure (FIM) and the London Chest Activity of Daily Living scale (LCADL). Exercise capacity was evaluated by the two-minute step-in-place (2MSP) test, and strength assessed by dynamometry. A total of 151 patients were included in this observational study. Patients in the PI group obtained worse results compared to the PA group, and significant differences (p < 0.05) were found in all of the variables. Those COPD patients who regularly perform PA have less dyspnea and cough, as well as better functionality, exercise capacity and strength during an exacerbation, without relationship to the severity of the pathology. 2019-05-03T14:38:41Z 2019-05-03T14:38:41Z 2018-11-29 info:eu-repo/semantics/article López-López, L. [et al.].Impact of Previous Physical Activity Levels on Symptomatology, Functionality, and Strength during an Acute Exacerbation in COPD Patients.Healthcare 2018, 6, 139; doi:10.3390/healthcare6040139. 2227-9032 http://hdl.handle.net/10481/55588 eng http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/es/ info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess Atribución 3.0 España MDPI