write the review about this article

mid_19
cpap.pdf

Jour Resp Cardiov Phy Ther. 2016; 5(1): 12-20.

� ORIGINAL ARTICLE

EFFECTS OF CPAP ON THE PHYSICAL EXERCISE TOLERANCE OF MODERATE TO

SEVERE CHRONIC OBSTRUCTIVE PULMONARY DISEASE

! MICHEL SILVA REIS1,2, HUGO VALVERDE REIS1,2, DANIEL TEIXEIRA SOBRAL1,2, APARECIDA MARIA

CATAI3, AUDREY BORGHI-SILVA4

! 1Research Group in Cardiorespiratory Physical Therapy (GECARE), Department of Physical Therapy, Faculty of

Medicine, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil 2Physical Education Undergraduation Program, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil 3Laboratory of Cardiovascular Physical Therapy, Department of Physical Therapy, UFSCar, São Carlos, SP, Brazil 4Laboratory of Cardiopulmonary Physical Therapy, Department of Physical Therapy, Universidade Federal de São

Carlos (UFSCar), São Carlos, SP, Brazil

! ! Received September 21, 2016; accepted April 18, 2017

Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of continuous positive airway pressure

(CPAP) on the exercise tolerance of patients with moderate to severe chronic obstructive pulmonary

disease (COPD). Methods: ten men with COPD (69 ± 9 years), FEV1/FVC (58.90 ± 11.86%) and FEV1

(40.98 ± 10.97% of predict) were submitted to a symptom-limited incremental exercise test (IT) on

the cyclo ergometer. Later, on another visit, they were randomized to perform a constant load

exercise protocol until maximal tolerance with and without CPAP (5cmH2O) in the following

conditions: i) 50% of the peak workload; and ii) 75% of the peak workload. Heart rate (HR), arterial

pressure (AP) and peripheral oxygen saturation were obtained at rest and during the exercise

protocols. For statistical procedures, Shapiro-Wilk normality test and two-way ANOVA with Tukey

post hoc (p<0.05) were performed. Results: There was a signi`icant improvement in exercise time

tolerance during the 75% of the peak workload protocol with CPAP when compared with

spontaneous breath (SB) (438±75 vs. 344±73ms, respectively). Conclusion: CPAP with 5 cmH2O

seems to be useful to improve exercise tolerance in patients with COPD. !

! ! ! ! ! Corresponding Author

Michel Silva Reis (msreis@hucff.ufrj.br) 


! Journal of Respiratory and CardioVascular Physical Therapy

KEYWORDS: Noninvasive ventilation; COPD; exercise tolerance; CPAP

Jour Resp Cardiov Phy Ther. 2016; 5(1): 12-20.

INTRODUCTON

Patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

(COPD) present a reduced physical exercise tolerance that

can be determined by ventilatory and/or peripheral

mechanism1,2. Progressive increase in the expiratory

air`low resistance, which limits the tidal volume gain

beyond the expiratory and inspiratory reserve volumes,

may be accentuated because these patients ventilate in

higher pulmonary volumes at rest. Thus, they reach the

maximal pulmonary capacity during physical exercise

early3. Nowadays, peripheral muscular dysfunction has

gained evidence, mainly its in`luence on the premature

physical exercise interruption4. Facts such as chronic

hypoxemia, oxidative stress, nutritional depletion,

peripheral muscular disuse, medicament effects and vagal-

sympathetic imbalance contribute to this peripheral

muscular dysfuction4. Beyond these factors, another

limiting capacity aspect of physical exercise is the blood

`low redistribution to peripheral muscles despite the

ventilatory muscles, especially in high intensity exercises5.

Hence, there are known forms to decrease the ventilatory

overload with repercussion on physical exercise tolerance

such as oxygen supplementation6,7, the use of

bronchodilators8, heliox9,10,11,12,13 and non-invasive

ventilation (NIV)1,9,14,15. NIV improves the functional

residual capacity by reducing the pulmonary shunt,

generating a higher ventilatory reserve16. Furthermore, it

reduces the work of breathing and it has been explored in

recent study during physical activity with COPD patients5

and other chronic diseases17, since there is a reduction in

sympathetic response in peripheral musculature, which

promotes a higher blood `low with higher tolerance on

physical exercise5,17.

Therefore, our study has the objective to evaluate acute

effects of continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) on

physical exercise capacity of COPD subjects.

! MATERIALS AND METHODS

Subject

Ten men with a clinical diagnosis of COPD volunteered to

participate in this cross-sectional study. Subjects were

recruited from a public primary health care facility and to

be included in the study presented with the following

characteristics: stable pulmonary function with forced

! expiratory volume in the `irst second/forced vital capacity

(FEV1/FVC) < 70%18, ex-smokers, and presenting dyspnea

and symptoms with minor or moderate efforts19. Exclusion

criteria were: consumption of alcoholic beverages, users of

addicting drugs, and regular physical activity in the past six

months. All subjects were submitted to clinical evaluation

and pulmonary function tests, functional capacity

evaluation according to the British Modi`ied Medical

Research Council (MRC)19, biochemical tests,

electrocardiogram (ECG) and a symptom-limited physical

exercise test prior to the study. All of them signed an

informed consent form, and the protocol was approved by

the Ethics Committee from Universidade Federal de São

Carlos (UFSCar), São Carlos, SP, Brazil (protocol 238/06).

Experimental protocol

The research was conducted in an acclimatized laboratory

at temperatures between 


22 °C and 24 °C and relative humidity between 50% and

60%, during the same period of the day (between 8 a.m.

and 12 p.m.). Prior to and on the day of the test, each

subject was asked to ensure they avoided consumption of

stimulating beverages and physical activity for 24 hours,

and consumed light meals and slept for at least eight hours.

Initially, the subjects were familiarized with the

experimental equipment and environment and the

researchers involved in the study. Prior to the tests, they

were evaluated and examined to ensure that the directions

given had been strictly followed. In addition, systolic and

diastolic blood pressure, lung auscultation and peripheral

saturation of Oxigen (SpO2) were assessed.

Pulmonary function

Spirometry was performed using a Vitalograph®

spirometer (Hand-Held 2021 instrument. Ennis, Ireland).

The FVC test was conducted to determine the FEV1 and

FEV1/FVC ratio. Technical procedures, criteria for

acceptability and reproducibility, were performed

according to the guidelines recommended by the American

Thoracic Society20. The reference values used were those

suggested by Knudson et al. 21.

Incremental physical exercise protocol

The assessment was performed by a cardiologist to

determine the maximum load the patients were able to

achieve. In addition, this step was considered important to

Jour Resp Cardiov Phy Ther. 2016; 5(1): 12-20.

assess clinical and functional conditions of the

cardiovascular and peripheral muscular systems of the

subjects and to identify evidence of cardiorespiratory

comorbidities elicited by physical exercise. Initially, the

patients were evaluated using an ECG with the standard 12-

lead ECG, followed by the evaluation of the

electrocardiographic signal from the derivations MC5, DII

modi`ied and V2 in the following conditions: supine, sitting,

apnea (15 s) and hyperventilated (15 s). The exercise test

was performed on a cycloergometer with electromagnetic

brakes (Quinton 400 Corival Ergometer, Groningen,

Netherlands) and power increments externally controlled

by a microprocessor model Workload Program (Quinton,

Groningen, Netherlands). The subjects remained seated

with the knees `lexed at 5-10°. Initially, a 2-minute warm up

period was performed with no load, corresponding to 4

watts (W). Following the warm up, the subjects performed

increments of 5W every 3 minutes at 60 rpm, until physical

exhaustion or it was impossible for them to maintain the

pedaling speed. The test was stopped on the `irst

indications of signs and/or symptoms such as dizziness,

nausea, cyanosis, complex arrhythmias, excessive sweating,

angina and peripheral oxygen desaturation. During the test,

they were monitored from the MC5 derivation, DII modi`ied

and V2. Measurements of heart rate (HR), blood pressure

(auscultation method) and electrocardiographic recordings

were performed in the 30 `inal seconds of each power level

and at the 1st, 3rd, 6th and 9th minutes of recovery. At the end

of the recovery period, with the subject in the supine

position, the standard 12-lead ECG was performed. In

addition to the aforementioned variables, using formulae

recommended by the American Heart Association (which

considers peak load and body mass), peak oxygen

consumption (VO2 peak) achieved by the subjects was

obtained. Throughout the test, peripheral oxygen

saturation (SpO2) was measured using pulse oximetry

(Oxyfast, Takaoka, Brazil).

Protocol of constant load in spontaneous breath and during

CPAP application

All tests were performed in four or two days (two tests per

day) with an interval of 48 hours between the days. For the

implementation of this protocol, initially, the subjects were

kept at rest in the sitting position for about 10 minutes,

aiming to achieve basal values for HR. At the same time,

instantaneous HR was obtained at rest in the sitting

position for 15 minutes. Subsequently, subjects were

randomized by drawing to perform submaximal exercise at

a constant load until maximum tolerance, with and without

application of continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP –

5 cm H2O, Breas PV101, Sweden) using a Confortgel nasal

mask (Respironics, Murrysville, PA) under the following

conditions: i) 50% of the peak load of the incremental test

and ii) 75% of the peak load of the incremental test.

Subjects were positioned in the horizontal electronically

braked cyclo ergometer (Quinton 400 Corival Ergometer,

Groningen, Netherlands) with knees `lexed between 5° and

10°. Initially, they remained seated on the cycle ergometer

at rest for 1 minute and then were instructed to pedal at a

cadence of 60 rpm until maximum tolerance, that was

de`ined when the subject could not keep the cadence. SpO2

(Oxyfast, Takaoka, Brazil) and ECG (Eca`ix 500, São Paulo,

Brazil), in leads MC5, DII modi`ied and V2, were

continuously monitored throughout the experimental

protocol. Blood pressure and the modi`ied BORG scale (CR

– 10) were carefully veri`ied every two minutes to avoid

interference in the collection of the variables. Constant

workload tests were performed on a single day and at the

same time to avoid circadian in`luences with an interval of

30 minutes or until cardiovascular variables returned to

baseline values. A team of trained researchers conducted

the tests and carefully monitored the signs and/or

symptoms of exercise intolerance and who could determine

when to immediately stop the test. Data analysis

The maximum time for completion of the physical exercise

during the protocol of constant workload was identi`ied by

tolerance time. The HR, subjective sensation of effort for

dyspnea, and discomfort of the lower limb variables were

assessed at baseline and at the peak of the protocol.

Statistical analysis

Data were subjected to a normality test (Shapiro-Wilk) and

homogeneity test (Levene test). Since a normal distribution

was observed, parametric statistical tests were used. Next,

a two-way ANOVA test with Tuckey post hoc was applied for

comparisons in the two exercise load conditions,

spontaneous breath and with CPAP. Analyses were

performed with GraphPad Instat 3 (San Diego, CA, USA),

with a signi`icance level of p<0.05. All data were presented

as means and standard deviation.

Jour Resp Cardiov Phy Ther. 2016; 5(1): 12-20.

RESULTS

We had 24 COPD patients, from which 12 were excluded

and two abandoned the current study, resulting in 10

analyzed patients, as shown in Figure 1.

In Table 1 we can observe age, anthropometric data, clinical

characteristics and incremental cardiopulmonary data of

the subjects. All individuals of the study were mild to

moderate in Global initiative for chronic obstructive lung

disease (GOLD)18 classi`ication, functional class of MRC

between I and III and were with optimized drug therapy.

Additionally, the incremental cardiopulmonary test showed

that COPD patients present low functional capacity (VO2

<15 ml/kg/min).

! !

! Table 2 exposes the cardiorespiratory data at rest and

constant work load physical exercises with and without

CPAP on the intensities of 50 and 75% of the incremental

test. We noted a higher improve in the physical exercise

time tolerance when the patients were with CPAP in the

intensity of 75% of the incremental test compared with the

condition without CPAP.

Figure 2 shows the time of tolerance to physical exercise of

patients in the intensity of 75% of the incremental test

without CPAP (SB) and with CPAP, in which we can see

signi`icantly higher values with the use of CPAP compared

with the spontaneous breath condition. (p<0.05).

! 


! !

Figure 1. Flowchart of the study.

! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !

24 eligible patients

12 patients

10 patients included

Two excluded

! Abandoned the protocol (n=1)

Mobility issues by severe dyspnea (n=1)

12 excluded

! Uncontrolled arterial blood pressure (n=4)

Current smokers (n=3)

Suspected cancer (n=2)

Refusal of participant (n=2)

Consumption of alcoholic beverage (n=1)

Jour Resp Cardiov Phy Ther. 2016; 5(1): 12-20.

Table 1. Anthropometrics and clinical characteristics of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) Subjects.

Values are means ± SD. FEV1: forced expiratory volume in the `irst second; FEV1/FVC: forced expiratory volume in the `irst

second and forced vital capacity ratio; SpO2: peripheral oxygen saturation; RR: respiratory rate; SAP: systolic arterial

pressure; DAP: diastolic arterial pressure; HR: heart rate. MRC: Medical Research Council.

! ! ! !

COPD (n=10)

Age (years) 69 ± 9

Height (cm) 167 ± 8.96

Weight (Kg) 64.44 ± 8.96

Body mass index (kg/m²) 23.21 ± 3.33

Spirometrics

FEV1 (L) 0.8 ± 0.2

FEV1 (% predict) 40.98 ± 10.97

FEV1/FVC (%) 58.90 ± 11.86

FVC (% predict) 68 ± 13

MRC

Class I n=1

Class II n=3

Class III n=6

Clinical characteristics

SpO2 (%) 92 ± 3

RR (ipm) 15 ± 4

Drugs

Short-acting bronchodilator 6

Long-acting bronchodilator 10

Incremental test

At rest

SAP (mmHg) 124 ± 11

DAP (mmHg) 75 ± 5

HR (bpm) 70 ± 12

Peak

SAP (mmHg) 171 ± 17

DAP (mmHg) 80 ± 9

HR (bpm) 110 ± 20

VO2peak (mL.kg.min) 10.15 ± 3.19

Power (watts) 27 ± 18

Jour Resp Cardiov Phy Ther. 2016; 5(1): 12-20.

Table 2. Cardiopulmonary variables and Borg during exercise

Values are means and SD. SB: spontaneous breath; CPAP: continuous positive airway pressure; RF: respiratory frequency in

incursions per minute; HR: heart rate in beat per minute; SAP: systolic arterial pressure; DAP: diastolic arterial pressure;*

p<0.05: rest vs. exercise (t student paired test); Ϯ p<0.05: SB vs. CPAP in 75% of incremental test (two-way ANOVA with Tukey

post hoc).

Figure 2. Tolerance time for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Subjects during submaximal exercise at 75% of

incremental test. SB: spontaneous breath. Median (bold line).


! !

! !

Variables 50% incremental test 75% incremental test

SB CPAP SB CPAP

At rest

RF (ipm) 12± 4 13± 3 12± 4 14± 3

HR (bpm) 75± 8 78± 7 75± 8 75± 7

SAP (mmHg) 120 ±7 125± 6 120 ±7 132± 8

DAP (mmHg) 72 ±8 74± 8 72 ±8 74± 8

Submaximal exercise peak

Tolerance time (s) 448±80 469±70 364±65 431±84

HR (bpm) 123±20* 124±19* 124±17* 122±18*

SAP (mmHg) 171±8* 168±7* 175±7* 170±7*

DAP (mmHg) 80±5 90±10 90±10 90±5

Dyspnea score 6±1 5±1 6±1 6±1

Leg effort score 5±0 5±1 5±1 5±1

Jour Resp Cardiov Phy Ther. 2016; 5(1): 12-20.

DISCUSSION

The main `inding of this study is the increase in the time of

tolerance of physical exercise in the intensity of 75% of the

incremental test with CPAP compared with the condition of

spontaneous breath.

The patients were eutrophic, with level of obstruction of

expiratory air`low from mild to moderate; all of them

maintained the use of medications during the study

protocol. During the incremental test, all subjects showed

an increase in the hemodynamic variables reaching a mean

of the estimated VO2 in the peak of exercise of 10.15ml/kg/

min.

Regarding the increase in the time of tolerance in the

condition of 75% of incremental test with CPAP, our data

corroborate literature `indings. In another study that

evaluated the time of tolerance of physical exercise of

patients with COPD from mild to moderate with use of

proportional assisted ventilation with titled `lows and

volumes of 5.8±0.9 cm H2O/l and 3.5±0.8 cm H2O/l/s,

respectively, Borghi-Silva et al.5 observed a higher tolerance

in the conditions with the ventilatory support in higher

exercise intensities. In the same way, Bianchi et al.22

showed that 15 patients with COPD presented higher

physical capacity with the association of proportional assist

ventilation (PAV) (8.6±3.6 cm H2O/l and 3±1.3 cm H2O/l)

and high intensity physical exercise (80% of peak

workload). Dyer et al.14 , who studied hospitalized patients

with COPD by acute exacerbation of the disease without

hypercapnia, observed a mean increase of 147 seconds in

the pedal capacity with `ixed load of 20 watts of patients

when submitted to NIV with two pressure levels (Pressure

support ventilation of 10 cm H2O and PEEP of 5 cm H2O).

Lastly, a meta-analysis about NIV and COPD performed by

Shi et al.23 showed that from `ive selected studies24,25,26,27,

two of them had a positive association between NIV and

physical exercise.

The use of NIV has been shown to be effective for patients

with other chronic diseases that curse with peripheral

dysfunction and consequently reduces the physical exercise

tolerance. Reis et al.17 observed an increase in time of

tolerance of physical exercise in patients with chronic heart

failure with reduced left ventricular ejection fraction when

submitted to CPAP of 5 cm H2O in the intensity of 75% of

the incremental test.

! The rational for these `indings base on the bene`its of NIV

on the increase in functional residual capacity with the

maintenance of expanded alveoli and consequent increase

in ventilatory reserve and decrease in ventilatory

workload5,14,17. This effect is especially important when NIV

is associated with physical exercise, since these patients

may early interrupt the exercise by the increase in the

expiratory air`low resistance and consequent dynamic

hyperin`lation28. Additionally, we may also consider that

the lower the ventilatory work demands, the lower the

relative cardiac output to ventilatory muscles decreasing

the sympathetic response of the peripheral muscles and

consequently increasing the blood `low and oxygen supply

to this area, thus increasing the time of physical

tolerance29,30.

Even though blood `low has not been directly evaluated in

this study, our data allow to infer about the possibility of

lower blood `low redistribution to the peripheral muscles,

since the use of CPAP of 5 cm H2O was able to signi`icantly

increase the time of tolerance in physical exercise in a

constant workload protocol with high intensity (75% of the

incremental test). Although the PEEP titration was

recommended, the use of 5cm H2O already was able to

generate a satisfactory response on the time of tolerance of

these patients.

Curiously, the results of 75% of the incremental test were

not reproduced with 50%. Probably, the imposed load on

the constant load protocol with 50% of the incremental test

was insuf`icient to generate a high enough metabolic

demand to increase the overload on ventilatory muscles

and consequently early interrupt the physical exercise.

The limitation of the study is the absence of whole-body

plethysmography to measure the static volumes as well as

the echocardiography to remove the possibility of

coexisting chronic heart failure and arterial blood gas

analysis to separate the hypoxic and hypercapnic patients.

As well as the small sample size, the recruitment of men

only, and the participation of subjects only with mild to

moderate severity disease.

! ! ! !

Jour Resp Cardiov Phy Ther. 2016; 5(1): 12-20.

CONCLUSION

As exposed, our study observed improve in the time

tolerance of physical exercise of patients with COPD from

mild to moderate with CPAP with 5 cm H2O supply during

the constant load protocol with 75% of the incremental

test.

! ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

To Fundação Carlos Chagas de Apoio da Pesquisa do Estado

do Rio de Janeiro (FAPERJ – protocol: E-26/110.827/2012)

and to Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cientí`ico e

Tecnológico (CNPq – protocol: 487375/2012-2), for

`inancial support. Additionally, we thank our colleagues

from the Research Group in Cardiorespiratory Physical

Therapy (GECARE) from the Department of Physical

Therapy, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), Rio

de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil.

! REFERENCES

1. Borghi-Silva, A; Mendes, RG; Toledo, AC; Sampaio, LMM;

Silva, TP; Kunikushita, LN, et al. Adjuncts to physical

training of patients with severe COPD: Oxygen or

noninvasive ventilation? Respir Care. 2010; 55 (7).

2. Ambrosino N. Assisted ventilation as an aid to exercise

training: a mechanical doping? Eur Respir J. 2006; 27:

3–5.

3. O`Donnell, DE; Revill, SM; Webb, KA. Dynamic

hyperin`lation and exercise intolerance in chronic

obstructive pulmonary disease. Am J Respir Crit Care

Med. 2001; 164: 770-777.

4. Gosker HR; Wouters EF; van der Vusse GJ; Schols AM.

Skeletal muscle dysfunction in chronic obstructive

pulmonary disease and chronic heart failure:

underlying mechanisms and therapy perspectives. Am J

Clin Nutr. 2000;71:1033–1047.

5. Borghi-Silva A; Carrascosa C; Oliveira CC; Barroco AC;

Berton DC; Vilaca D, et al. Effects of respiratory muscle

unloading on leg muscle oxygenation and blood volume

during high-intensity exercise in chronic heart failure.

Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol. 2008;294:2465-2472.

6. Scorsone D, Bartolini S, Saporiti R, et al. Does a low-

density gas mixture or oxygen supplementation

improve exercise training in COPD? Chest 2010;138(5):

1133–1139.

7. Dyer F, Callaghan J, Cheema K, et al. Ambulatory oxygen

improves the effectiveness of pulmonary rehabilitation

in selected patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary

disease. Chron Respir Dis. 2012;9(2):83–91.

8. Scuarcialupi, MEA; Berton, DC; Cordoni, PK; Squassoni,

SD; Fiss, E; Neder, JA. Can bronchodilators improve

exercise tolerance in COPD patients without dynamics

hyperin`lation? J Bras Pneumol. 2014; 40(2): 111-118.

9. Kylie, H; Holland, AE. Strategies to Enhance the Bene`its

of Exercise Training in the Respiratory Patient. Clin

Chest Med. 2014; 323-336 (in press). http://dx.doi.org/

10.1016/j.ccm.2014.02.003

10.Chiappa, GR; Queiroga, F; Meda, E; Ferreira, LF;

Diefenthaeler, F; Nunes, M, et al. Heliox improves oxygen

delivery and utilization during dynamic exercise in

patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2009; 179: 1004 – 1010.

11.Laveneziana P, Valli G, Onorati P, et al. Effect of heliox on

heart rate kinetics and dynamic hyperin`lation during

high-intensity exercise in COPD. Eur J Appl Physiol

2011;111(2):225–34.

12.Vogiatzis I, Habazettl H, Aliverti A, et al. Effect of helium

breathing on intercostal and quadríceps muscle blood

`low during exercise in COPD patients. Am J Physiol

Regul Integr Comp Physiol. 2011;300(6):R1549–1559.

13.Queiroga F Jr, Nunes M, Meda E, et al. Exercise tolerance

with helium-hyperoxia versus hyperoxia in hypoxaemic

patients with COPD. Eur Respir J. 2013;42(2):362–370.

14.Dyer, F; Flude, L; Bazari, F; Jolley, C; Englebretsen, C; Lai,

D, et al. Non-invasive ventilation (NIV) as na aid to

rehabilitation in acute respiratory disease. Pulmonary

Medicine. 2011; 11:58.

15.Hul A, Gosselink R, Hollander P, Postmus P, Kwakkele G.

Training with inspiratory pressure support in patients

with severe COPD. Eur Respir J 2006; 27: 65–72.

16.Associação de Medicina Intensiva Brasileira. Diretrizes

brasileiras de Ventilação Mecânica. 2013 (versão

online).

17.Reis, HV. Borghi-Silva, A. Catai, AM. Reis, MS. Impact of

CPAP in the physical exercise tolerance and

sympathetic-vagal balance of patients with chronic

heart failure. Braz J Phys Ther. 2014, 18(3): 218-227.

18.Global initiative for chronic obstructive lung disease:

Global strategy for the diagnosis, management, and

Jour Resp Cardiov Phy Ther. 2016; 5(1): 12-20.

prevention of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Medical Communications Resources, Inc. 2017.

19.Ferrer, M; Alonso, J; Morera, J; Marrades, RM; Khalaf, A;

Aguar, MC et al. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

stage and health-related quality of life. The quality of

life of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease study

group. Ann Intern Med, 1997; 127(12): 1072-1079.

20.American Thoracic Society. Standardization of

spirometry 1994 update. Am J Respir Crit Care Med.

1995;152:1107–1136.

21.Knudson RJ, Lebowitz MD, Holberg CJ, Burrows B.

Changes in the maximal expiratory `low-volume curve

with growth and ageing. Am Rev Respir Dis.

1983;127:725-34.

22.Bianchi L, Foglio K, Pagani M, Vitacca M, Rossi A,

Ambrosino N. Effects of proportional assist ventilation

on exercise tolerance in COPD patients with chronic

hypercapnia. Eur Respir J 1998; 11: 422–427.

23.SHI Jia-xin, XU Jin, SUN Wen-kui, SU Xin, ZHANG Yan and

SHI Yi. Effect of noninvasive, positive pressure

ventilation on patients with severe, stable chronic

obstructive pulmonary disease: a meta-analysis. Chin

Med J 2013;126 (1): 140-146.

24.Van ’t Hul A, Kwakkel G, Gosselink R. The acute effects of

noninvasive ventilatory support during exercise on

exercise endurance and dyspnea in patients with

chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: a systematic

review. J Cardiopulm Rehabil. 2002;22(4):290–297.

25.Dreher M, Storre JH, Windisch W. Noninvasive

ventilation during walking in patients with severe

COPD: a randomised cross-over trial. Eur Respir J.

2007;29(5):930–936.

26.Kyroussis D, Polkey MI, Hamnegard CH, et al.

Respiratory muscle activity in patients with COPD

walking to exhaustion with and without pressure

support. Eur Respir J. 2000;15(4):649–655.

27.Maltais F, Reissmann H, Gottfried SB. Pressure support

reduces inspiratory effort and dyspnea during exercise

in chronic air`low obstruction. Am J Respir Crit Care

Med. 1995;151(4):1027–1033.

28.Takara, LS; Cunha, TM; Barbosa, P; Rodrigues, MK;

Oliveira, MF; Neder, JA et al. Dynamics of chest wall

volume regulation during constant work rate exercise in

patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Braz J Med Biol Res. 2012, 45 (12): 1276-1283.

29.Dempsey, JA, Romer, L, Rodman, J, Miller, J, Smith, C.

Consequences of exercise-induced respiratory muscle

work. Respir Physiol Neurobiol. 2006;151:242–250.

30.Mitchell, J. H. Wolffe memorial lecture. Neural control of

the circulation during exercise. Med Sci Sports Exerc.

1990;22(2):141-154.