Acute effects of expiratory positive pressure on autonomic cardiac modulation during spontaneous and slow deep breathing in COPD patients.

Aim: to evaluate the acute effects of expiratory positive airway pressure on cardiac autonomic modulation in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients during spontaneous breathing and slow deep breathing.

Methods: 17 patients were evaluated. The R-R intervals were collected (Polar® S810i) during spontaneous breathing (10 minutes) and slow deep breathing (4 minutes), with and without 5 cmH2O expiratory positive airway pressure.

Pulmonary function and functional capacity cut-off point to establish sarcopenia and dynapenia in patients with COPD.

Objective: To establish a cut-off point for clinical and functional variables to determinate sarcopenia and dynapenia in COPD patients, and to analyze the impact of skeletal muscle dysfunction (SMD) on these variables.

Methods: Cross-sectional study, screened COPD patients for sarcopenia or dynapenia through low muscle mass and hand grip strength (HGS). Clinical variables: pulmonary function, respiratory muscle strength and functional capacity (FC).