Effect of 12-week pulmonary rehabilitation on cognitive function in patients with stable chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: study protocol for a single-center randomised controlled trial

Abstract

IntroductionCognitive impairment, an important complication in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), seriously affects self-management of the disease and quality of life (QoL). As an exercise-based intervention programme, pulmonary rehabilitation (PR)—especially aerobic exercise (mainly mind–body exercise) and resistance exercise (RE)—has been proposed for its potential effectiveness in improving cognitive function. However, there is still a lack of strong evidence for PR’s effectiveness. In this study, we expect to clarify the effects of pulmonary-based Qigong exercise and elastic band-based RE on cognitive function in patients with COPD and to fill in the relevant evidence blanks.Methods and analysisThis study is a single-centre randomised controlled trial with assessor and data analyst blinding. We will recruit 108 participants with stable COPD starting on 23 December 2019, and randomly allocate them into the pulmonary-based Qigong exercise group, elastic band-based RE group, pulmonary-based Qigong exercise and elastic band-based RE combined group, or control group at a 1:1:1:1 ratio. Participants in intervention groups will perform 30 min of exercise two times per day, 5 days a week, for 12 weeks. The primary outcome will be the global cognitive function as assessed by the Montreal Cognitive Assessment and auditory event-related potential P300. Secondary outcomes will include the specific cognitive domains—attention, memory, executive function, verbal fluency and mental-processing speed; psychological functions and QoL. Exploratory outcomes will include grey matter volume and levels of inflammatory mediators. Outcomes will be measured before and after the interventions.Ethics and disseminationEthics approval has been granted by the Ethics Committee of Yue-Yang Integrative Medicine Hospital, an affiliate of Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai, China (Grant No. 2019-141). Written informed consent will be obtained from each participant before any procedures are performed. The findings will be published in peer-reviewed journals and presented at academic conferences.Trial registration numberChiCTR1900026869; pre-results.