BACKGROUND: Pulmonary Rehabilitation (PR) improves the quality of life of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients. However, the influence of PR on the sleep pattern of these patients is unknown. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the influence of PR on the sleep patterns of patients with COPD. METHOD: A total of 27 patients (22 men/5 women) were submitted to polysomnographic, gasometric and anthropometric studies before and after six weeks of PR and were evaluated using the Epworth Sleepiness Scale. The results were analyzed using paired Student's t-test, ANOVA and Newman-Keuls multiple comparison test. RESULTS: Mean age was 63.3 ± 5.3 years, mean FEV1 was 54.8 ± 25.4% of predicted, mean FEV1/FVC was 49.9 ± 12.0% of predicted, mean resting PaO2 was 69.7 ± 7.3 mmHg, and mean resting SaO2 was 93.7 ± 2.1%. Polysomnography revealed sleep patterns to be fragmented, with frequent waking and reduced slow-wave sleep, as well as oxygen desaturation. The most significant drops in oxygen saturation occurred during rapid eye movement sleep. No significant differences were observed between pre- and post-PR values for the other variables studied (p > 0.05). CONCLUSION: In the group of patients studied, PR did not alter sleep patterns.
Sleep; Pulmonary Disease; Chronic Obstructive; Lung Diseases, rehabilitation
