Objective To explore the effects of early respiratory rehabilitation combined with nutritional support on lung function, nutritional status and exercise endurance in patients with acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (AECOPD).

Results A total of 96 AECOPD patients admitted were selected and were divided in to two groups.A total of 44 patients in the observation group were treated with early respiratory rehabilitation combined with nutritional support, and 52 patients in the control group were treated with conventional treatment.Lung function, nutritional status and exercise endurance before and after treatment of the two groups were compared.

Results After treatment, forced vital capacity (FVC), forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV₁) and ratio of forced expiratory volume in 1 second to forced vital capacity (FEV₁/FVC) in two groups were higher than before treatment, and above indexes in the observation group were higher than that in the control group (P < 0.05).Nutritional indicators such as albumin (PAB), and hemoglobin (Hb) were significantly higher than before treatment, and the above indicators in the observation group after treatment were significantly higher than those in the control group (P < 0.05).After treatment, exercise tolerance indicators such as 30-second sit-to-stand test (30-STS), 6-min walk test (6MWT) were significantly higher than before treatment, and indicators above in the observation group were significantly higher than those in the control group (P < 0.05).After treatment, the COPD Assessment Test (CAT) scores of the two groups were significantly higher than before treatment, the CAT score of the observation group was significantly higher than the control group after treatment (P < 0.05).

Conclusion Early respiratory rehabilitation combined with nutritional support treatment for AECOPD patients is beneficial to the recovery of lung function, the improvement of nutritional status and exercise endurance of patients after surgery.