Association between self-reported moderate to vigorous physical activity and rate of outpatient treated COPD exacerbations over 2 years of follow-up
| Outpatient treated COPD exacerbations n (%), mean (SD) | Crude IRR | Unadjusted IRR (95% CI) | Adjusted IRR* (95% CI) | |
| All patients (N=44 896) | ||||
| Inactive (25 117) | 12 483 (50%), 1.24 (2.04) | Ref | Ref | Ref |
| Insufficiently active (10 221) | 4882 (48%), 1.14 (1.90) | 0.92 | 0.93 (0.91 to 0.95) | 0.98 (0.96 to 1.01) |
| Active (9558) | 4440 (46%), 1.07 (1.84) | 0.86 | 0.86 (0.84 to 0.88) | 0.97 (0.95 to 0.98) |
| FEV1/FVC<0.7 (n=21 746) | ||||
| GOLD I (n=5733) | ||||
| Inactive (2795) | 1330 (48%), 1.09 (1.87) | Ref | Ref | Ref |
| Insufficiently active (1322) | 581 (44%), 0.95 (1.64) | 0.87 | 0.89 (0.84 to 0.95) | 1.03 (0.97 to 1.11) |
| Active (1616) | 722 (45%), 0.95 (1.62) | 0.87 | 0.88 (0.83 to 0.93) | 1.0 (0.94 to 1.07) |
| GOLD II (n=11 613) | ||||
| Inactive (6401) | 3570 (56%), 1.47 (2.20) | Ref | Ref | Ref |
| Insufficiently active (2695) | 1461 (54%), 1.37 (2.16) | 0.93 | 0.94 (0.91 to 0.98) | 0.99 (0.95 to 1.04) |
| Active (2517) | 1355 (54%), 1.29 (2.01) | 0.88 | 0.88 (0.85 to 0.92) | 1.02 (0.98 to 1.06) |
| GOLD III/IV (n=4400) | ||||
| Inactive (2605) | 1737 (67%), 2.22 (2.85) | Ref | Ref | Ref |
| Insufficiently active (1018) | 648 (64%), 1.97 (2.66) | 0.89 | 0.90 (0.85 to 0.94) | 0.95 (0.9 to 1.0) |
| Active (777) | 517 (67%), 2.04 (2.69) | 0.92 | 0.93 (0.88 to 0.98) | 0.95 (0.9 to 1.0) |
| FEV1/FVC≥0.7 (n=11 761) | ||||
| Inactive (6677) | 2843 (43%), 0.91 (1.61) | Ref | Ref | Ref |
| Insufficiently active (2733) | 1097 (40%), 0.84 (1.5) | 0.92 | 0.93 (0.89 to 0.98) | 0.9 (0.85 to 0.95) |
| Active (2351) | 876 (37%), 0.72 (1.39) | 0.79 | 0.79 (0.75 to 0.83) | 1.05 (0.98 to 1.12) |
| No spirometry (n=11 389) | ||||
| Inactive (6639) | 3003 (45%), 1.03 (1.78) | Ref | Ref | Ref |
| Insufficiently active (2453) | 1095 (45%), 0.97 (1.57) | 0.94 | 0.95 (0.90 to 0.99) | 0.97 (0.92 to 1.03) |
| Active (2297) | 970 (42%), 0.93 (1.69) | 0.90 | 0.91 (0.86 to 0.95) | 1.03 (0.98 to 1.08) |
*Adjusted models accounted for age, gender, marital status, race/ethnicity, smoking status, use of inhaled steroids and oxygen, comorbidity, depression, anxiety, chronic pain, all-cause acute care use (hospitalisation, observation stay and emergency department visits),and baseline outpatient treated COPD exacerbations in the previous 12 months. Sample sizes for unadjusted and adjusted models may vary by ~100 to 345 fewer than the listed n for each subgroup primarily due to missing body mass index (n=344).
COPD, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; FEV1, forced expiratory volume in one second; FVC, forced vital capacity; GOLD, Global initiative for chronic obstructive lung disease; IRR, incidence rate ratio; Ref, reference.