Objective: To investigate how total daily energy expenditure (TEE) changes when underweight patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) enters a physiotherapy programme.
Design: Prospective intervention study.
Setting: Sahlgrenska University Hospital, Göteborg, Sweden.
Subjects: Fifteen patients with severe COPD and BMI<21 kg/m(2) were recruited consecutively at the outpatient COPD unit at the Department of Respiratory Medicine. Fourteen patients completed the whole study.
Intervention: TEE was assessed by the doubly labelled water method in a 2-week control period and during 2 weeks of physiotherapy. Energy intake was assessed using 7-day dietary record during control and physiotherapy period.
Results: Mean TEE during physiotherapy period was 500 kJ (6%) lower than during control period but the difference was not statistically significant. Ten of the 14 patients had lower and four had higher TEE. Mean energy intake during the physiotherapy period did not change from the control period (7700 vs 7600 kJ/day).
Conclusions: Since underweight patients with COPD may show variable TEE during physiotherapy compared to a control period, an assessment of individual energy requirements is recommended.