A COPD strength training program can help some patients.

A home-based strength training program does not improve dyspnea in patients with chronic obstructive lung disease (COPD), but it does improve some functional capacity and helps patients feel better, a 12-month long, HOMEX exercise program shows. 

“Home-based programs became increasingly popular in the last years and complement traditional center-based inpatient and outpatient PR (pulmonary rehabilitation),” Anja Frei, PhD, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland, and colleagues reported.

“Our study showed that the HOMEX strength training program had no effect on dyspnea after 12 months in persons with COPD who completed PR, [but] the program improved functional exercise capacity…and many participants reported having perceived positive effects that they attributed to the training,” investigators add. The study was published online August 8 in the journal CHEST. Read more here.

Sclerostin Predicts COPD Exacerbations

Lower levels of serum sclerostin (SOST) were significantly associated with increased risk of lung exacerbations and hospitalizations in adults with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), based on data from 139 individuals.

COPD exacerbations contribute to poorer prognosis and diminished quality of life, but many potential triggers of these exacerbations, including serum biomarkers, have not been well studied, wrote Carlos A. Amado, MD, of Hospital Universitario Marqués de Valdecilla, Santander, Spain, and colleagues.

These biomarkers include sclerostin, which is associated with bone metabolism and may play a role in “muscle-bone crosstalk,” thereby impacting lung function, they said.

In a study published in Pulmonology, the researchers recruited 139 adult outpatients with stable COPD and normal kidney function who were treated at a single center. Read more here.

Prognostic Nomogram Stratifies COPD Patients in ICU

A prognostic nomogram to assist with stratifying patients with acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (AECOPD) in the intensive care unit (ICU) has been developed and internally validated by researchers, who published the nomogram and supporting research in BMC Pulmonary MedicineRead more here.