Impact of anemia on exercise capacity in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Objective: This study aimed to assess the impact of anaemia on exercise capacity in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) patients by comparing the six-minute walk distance (6MWD) between anaemic and non-anaemic individuals. Study Design: Cross-sectional study. Setting: Department of Pulmonology, Khyber Teaching Hospital, Peshawar. Period: November 15, 2019 until May 14, 2020. Methods: This study included 162 COPD patients aged 40 to 70 years. Exclusion criteria encompassed any lung pathology other than COPD, malignancy, cardiac pathology, or conditions affecting hemoglobin levels. The 6MWD test was utilized to evaluate exercise capacity. Data analysis utilized SPSS Version 25.0, with descriptive statistics employed to summarize the demographic and clinical characteristics of the study population. A significance level of ≤0.05 was used to determine statistical significance. Results: The mean age of participants was 62.07 years, with a mean hemoglobin level of 12.63 gm/dl. The average 6MWD was 234.78 meters. Among the subjects, 40.74% were male. Anaemic patients had a significantly lower 6MWD (190.99 ± 95.44 meters) compared to non-anaemic patients (278.58 ± 100.17 meters; p ≤ 0.001). There were no significant differences in COPD duration, age, body mass index, or smoking status between the two groups. Conclusions: Anaemic COPD patients demonstrated a significantly reduced exercise capacity, covering approximately two-thirds of the distance non-anaemic patients did on the 6MWD test. These findings suggest that early diagnosis and management of anaemia in COPD patients could potentially improve their exercise tolerance and overall quality of life.