Duration of Effect of Pulmonary Rehabilitation in Elderly Patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

Pulmonary rehabilitation has been reported to be effective in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). To investigate the effect of a moderate period of pulmonary rehabilitation combined with inspiratory muscle training (IMT) in elderly patients with COPD, we instituted pulmonary rehabilitation for 60 weeks in five elderly patients (age: 65.4±3.7 SE years). IMT was performed for 15min twice daily using a pressure threshold device. The inspiratory threshold was set at 15% of the maximal inspiratory pressure (PImax) of each individual. Maximal peak flow significantly increased from 3.0±0.6 (L/s) at baseline to 4.1±0.7 (L/s) after 12 weks (p