The Effect of Respiratory Rehabilitation for the Frail Elderly: a Pilot Study

抄録

Objective: To analyze the effects of respiratory rehabilitation on the activities of daily living (ADL) and quality of life (QOL) in community-dwelling frail elderly.

Design: Pilot intervention study after a one-year period of observation.

Setting: Day care facility in a rehabilitation hospital.

Subjects: Thirty community-dwelling frail elderly using rehabilitation services

Intervention: After a one-year observation period of usual rehabilitation, 30 participants were given 12 rehabilitation sessions that included respiratory rehabilitation (three sessions a week for four weeks).

Main Measures: The measurement was performed approximately one year before the 12 rehabilitation sessions (initial evaluation), prior to training (pre-training evaluation), and after the sessions (post-training evaluation). Primary outcome measures included: respiratory function, swallowing function, ADL, and QOL. Secondary outcome measures included: depressive score, exercise tolerance, 6-minute walk distance, thorax flexibility, and muscle strength (knee extension, grip, and abdominal). QOL were estimated using questionnaires.

Results: Swallowing function, ADL, QOL (SF8 physical and mental summary score), respiratory function, and physical function were significantly reduced during usual rehabilitation (between the initial evaluation and pre-training evaluation), whereas swallowing function, ADL, QOL (SF8 physical component summary score [PCS]), respiratory function, exercise tolerance, 6-minute walk distance, thorax flexibility, and muscle strength (knee extension) were significantly improved during respiratory rehabilitation (between the pre-training evaluation and post-training evaluation).

Conclusions: Our results suggest that a usual rehabilitation program without respiratory training is not sufficient for the frail elderly to maintain their ADL and QOL, and furthermore that respiratory rehabilitation can help improve their ADL and QOL as well as their swallowing and respiratory function.