Comparison of the Sit-to-Stand and Stand-to-Sit Activities between Patients with COPD and Healthy Subjects: A Pilot Study

Subjects with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) usually present muscle weakness as an extra-pulmonary consequence of the disease, which can impair physical function. Our goal was to investigate the Sit-to-Stand and Stand-to-Sit (STSTS) performance in individuals with COPD compared with healthy subjects. A pilot study was conducted on 25 patients with COPD and 27 healthy adults. Videos of the STSTS activities were recorded on Anterior View (AV) and Lateral View (LV). The STSTS activities were compared between groups through an Expert System (ES) according to an evaluation protocol with a classification score from 0 (adequate condition) to 4 (inadequate condition level IV). Data analyses were performed with Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) 22.0 version. A p value of <0.05 was considered significant. There were significant differences in the STSTS activities in both views between both groups (Stand-to-Sit AV, p=0.000; Stand-to-Sit LV p=0.001; Sit-to-Stand AV, p=0.000; Sit-to-Stand LV, p=0.000). COPD patients presented the worse scores (median) in the Stand-to-Sit activities (2.44 AV; 2.28 LV). Individuals with COPD showed worse functional condition compared to healthy subjects, especially in the Stand-to-Sit activity.