Publications by authors named "Pere Vall-Casas"

Introduction: Patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) accumulate low levels of physical activity. How environmental factors affect their physical activity in the short-term is uncertain.

Aim: to assess the short-term effects of air pollution and weather on physical activity levels in COPD patients.

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Background: Physical activity and exercise capacity are key prognostic factors in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) but their environmental determinants are unknown.

Objectives: To test the association between urban environment and objective physical activity, physical activity experience and exercise capacity in COPD.

Methods: We studied 404 patients with mild-to-very severe COPD from a multi-city study in Catalonia, Spain.

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Rationale: Many clinical and psychological factors are known to influence the health-related quality of life (HRQL) in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). However, research on whether environmental factors, such as air pollution, noise, temperature, and blue/green spaces also influence HRQL in COPD has not been systematically investigated.

Objective: To assess the relationship between air pollution, road traffic noise, temperature, and distance to blue/green spaces and respiratory-specific HRQL in COPD.

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Introduction: Although mean physical activity in COPD patients declines by 400-500steps/day annually, it is unknown whether the natural progression is the same for all patients. We aimed to identify distinct physical activity progression patterns using a hypothesis-free approach and to assess their determinants.

Methods: We pooled data from two cohorts (usual care arm of Urban Training [NCT01897298] and PROactive initial validation [NCT01388218] studies) measuring physical activity at baseline and 12 months (Dynaport MoveMonitor).

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Objectives: Physical activity is key to improve the prognosis of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). To help to tailor future interventions we aimed to identify the baseline characteristics of COPD patients which predict 12-month completion and response to a behavioral physical activity intervention.

Methods: This is a 12-month cohort study of the intervention arm of the Urban Training randomized controlled trial (NCT01897298), an intervention proven to be efficacious to increase physical activity.

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There is a need to increase and maintain physical activity in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). We assessed 12-month efficacy and effectiveness of the Urban Training intervention on physical activity in COPD patients.This randomised controlled trial (NCT01897298) allocated 407 COPD patients from primary and hospital settings 1:1 to usual care (n=205) or Urban Training (n=202).

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Background: Study of the causes of the reduced levels of physical activity in patients with COPD has been scarce and limited to biological factors.

Aim: To assess the relationship between novel socio-environmental factors, namely dog walking, grandparenting, neighbourhood deprivation, residential surrounding greenness and residential proximity to green or blue spaces, and amount and intensity of physical activity in COPD patients.

Methods: This cross-sectional study recruited 410 COPD patients from five Catalan municipalities.

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Purpose: Accessible interventions to train patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) are needed. We designed urban trails of different intensities (low, moderate and high) in different types of public spaces (boulevard, beach and park). We aimed to validate the trails' design by assessing the physiological response to unsupervised walking trails of: (1) different intensities in COPD patients, and (2) same intensity from different public spaces in healthy adults.

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