Abstract
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a debilitating lung disease that decreases individuals' quality of life. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between individuals' participation in physical activity and movement related activities (PAM; e.g., climbing up two or more flights of stairs), home related activities (AH; e.g., carrying heavy objects on a flat surface), overall burden of disease, and overall life satisfaction. Individuals living with COPD (N= 131, Mage= 68.49, SD= 8.54) responded to an online questionnaire. They reported their participation in six PAM activities and four AH activities. Participants reported their life satisfaction by responding to the Satisfaction with Life Scale, their overall disease burden with the COPD Assessment Test and the burden of breathlessness with the Medical Research Council Questionnaire on Breathlessness. Three multiple regressions were run to predict to life satisfaction, overall burden of disease and breathlessness from individuals self-reported participation in both activity categories, controlling for sex. PAM (B= .71, CI 95%: [.02, 1.40]) and AH (B= .76, CI 95%: [.26, 1.27]) significantly and positively predicted life satisfaction (R^2=.46). Both activities negatively predicted overall burden of disease (R^2=.61, BPAM= -5.54, CI 95%: [-8.35, -2.73], BAH= -3.49, CI 95%: [-5.50, -1.47]), and breathlessness (R^2= .61, BPAM= -1.16, CI 95%: [-1.58, -.74], BAH= -.30, CI 95%: [-.60, -.004]). Interventions must target functionally appropriate physical activity as enhancing participation in these activities should result in higher life satisfaction and lower burden of disease in individuals living with COPD.Acknowledgments: This research has been carried out with the support of AstraZeneca.