Investigation of Physical Activity Level, Cardiorespiratory Fitness and Quality of Life in Patients With Asthma

Asthma is an obstructive pulmonary disease and thus it affects respiratory functions. Dyspnea, fatigue and bronchial hyperreactivity symptoms are commonly seen on patients with asthma. It is known that physical activity level of asthmatic patients is reduced. Few researches have investigated asthmatic patients' physical activity level and these researches mainly focused on self reported physical activity level. How differing maximal and submaximal exercise capacity of asthmatic patients is not well known. Because previous researches compared only different severity levels of the disease. It is reported that peripheral muscle strength of asthmatic patients is lower than healthy individuals' peripheral muscle strength. But evidences about this subject are insufficient. Asthmatic patients' respiratory muscle strength is lower than healthy individuals' respiratory muscle strength. But it is not clear if endurance is lower as respiratory muscle strength too, or not. It is reported that quality of life of asthmatic patients is worst than healthy individuals'. According to the sample size analysis 36 patients and 36 healthy individuals with similar demographic characteristics will be included the study. Patients and healthy individuals will be selected according to predetermined inclusion and exclusion criteria. The assessments will be completed in two days. Maximal exercise capacity will be assessed using cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPET), functional exercise capacity using six minute stepper test, physical activity using multi-sensor activity monitor, pulmonary function using spirometry, respiratory muscle strength using mouth pressure device, peripheral muscle strength using hand held dynamometer, respiratory muscle endurance using incremental threshold loading test, depression using Beck Depression Inventory (Turkish version), anxiety using Beck Anxiety Inventory (Turkish version), disease specific quality of life using Asthma Quality of Life Questionnaire (Turkish version) and St. George Respiratory Questionnaire (Turkish version), cough related quality of life using Leicester Cough Questionnaire (Turkish version), sleep related quality of life using Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (Turkish version), asthma control level using Asthma Control Test (Turkish version), disease management knowledge level using Asthma Self-Management Questionnaire (Turkish version).