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Gilbert Büsching

Publications and source records attributed to Gilbert Büsching.

2 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2006

Interval versus continuous high-intensity exercise in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: a randomized trial.

BACKGROUND: Guidelines recommend high-intensity continuous exercise to reduce peripheral muscle dysfunction in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease but acknowledge that interval exercise might be an equally effective alternative that is better tolerated by patients. OBJECTIVE: To assess whether interval exercise is no less effective than high-intensity continuous exercise and whether it is tolerated better by patients with severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. DESIGN: Randomized, noninferiority trial. SETTING: Publicly funded rehabilitation hospital in Switzerland. PATIENTS: 98 patients with severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, with or without recent exacerbations. INTERVENTION: 12 to 15 supervised interval or high-intensity continuous exercise sessions (over 3 weeks) followed by exercise at home. MEASUREMENTS: Health-related quality of life determined by using the Chronic Respiratory Questionnaire (CRQ) (scores from 1 [most severe impairment] to 7 [no impairment]) after 5 weeks and number of unintended breaks during supervised exercise. RESULTS: Both groups experienced large improvements in health-related quality of life (increase of CRQ total scores of 1.00 [SD, 0.98] for the interval exercise group and 1.02 [SD, 1.05] for the continuous exercise group). Adjusted between-group differences between the interval exercise group and the continuous exercise group (-0.05 [95% CI, -0.42 to -0.32] for CRQ and 1.1 meters [CI, -25.4 to 27.6 meters] for 6-minute walking distance) were within the a priori defined boundaries of noninferiority (0.5 for CRQ and 45 meters for 6-minute walking distance). Twenty-one (47.9%) patients using interval exercise and 11 (24.0%) patients using continuous exercise were able to adhere to the protocol (difference, 23.9 percentage points [CI, 5.0 to 42.8 percentage points]; P = 0.014). The median number of unintended breaks lasting 1 minute or more was 2 (interquartile range, 0 to 16) for patients in the interval exercise group and 11 (interquartile range, 2 to 26) for patients in the continuous exercise group (P = 0.023). LIMITATIONS: The study focused on initiation of exercise and not on outpatient or home-based maintenance of exercise. CONCLUSIONS: Clinicians and patients can choose either of the 2 exercise plans to initiate physical exercise. International Standard Randomized Controlled Trial number: SRCTN11611768.

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PubMed2004

Interval exercise versus continuous exercise in patients with moderate to severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease--study protocol for a randomised controlled trial [ISRCTN11611768].

BACKGROUND: Physical exercise has become a cornerstone of management of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) because it leads to clinically relevant improvements of exercise capacity and health-related quality of life (HRQL). Despite the scarcity of randomised trials directly comparing exercise protocols, current guidelines recommend high intensity continuous exercise for lower extremities as the probably most effective exercise modality. However, for patients admitted to inpatient respiratory rehabilitation programmes, it is often difficult to initiate such an exercise programme because they are severely limited by dyspnoea and leg fatigue and therefore unable to perform continuous exercise at higher intensities and for periods longer than 30 minutes. Interval exercise may be an attractive alternative for these COPD patients because it allows high intensity exercise with recovery periods. The aim of this study is to assess if interval exercise compared to high intensity continuous exercise is not of inferior effectiveness in terms of HRQL and exercise capacity improvements but associated with better exercise tolerance in patients with moderate to severe COPD at the beginning of a respiratory rehabilitation. METHODS/DESIGN: We will assign patients with moderately severe to severe COPD to either continuous exercise or interval exercise using a stratified randomisation. Patients will follow 12-15 exercise sessions during a comprehensive inpatient respiratory rehabilitation. Primary end point for effectiveness is HRQL as measured by the Chronic Respiratory Questionnaire (CRQ) two weeks after the end of rehabilitation and secondary endpoints include additional clinical outcomes such as functional exercise capacity, other HRQL measures, patients' experience of physical exercise as well as physiological measures of the effects of physical exercise such as cardiopulmonary exercise testing. Including expected drop-outs, we will need 52 patients per group to show differences corresponding to the minimal clinically important difference of the CRQ. Outcome assessors and investigators involved in data analysis will be blinded to group assignment until analyses have been carried out. DISCUSSION: Clinicians and the scientific community need evidence on the benefits and tolerance of exercise protocols available in clinical practice. The proposed trial will provide important and needed data on interval and continuous exercise for decision making in clinical practice.

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