Effects of Exercise Training &
Acute Exacerbations on Muscle
Function in Patients with Chronic
Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

By Martijn A. Spruit
December 2004
Leuven University Press
ISBN: 9058674290
184 pages, Illustrated, 6 ¼" x 9 ½"
$99.50 Paper Original

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This is a Ph.D. dissertation. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a disease state characterized by airflow limitation that is not fully reversible. The airflow limitation is usually progressive and associated with an abnormal inflammatory response of the lungs to noxious particles or gases.

Clinically, it is characterized by complaints of cough, sputum production, and/or dyspnoea, and diagnosed by a significantly reduced Tiffeneau index. It was the fourth leading cause of death in the United States in 1996, exceeded only by heart attacks, cancers and stroke. Hence, COPD is a major global health problem and its burden on society is growing rapidly. For these reasons, COPD was chosen as a study population in the present project.

Pulmonary Medicine
Acta Biomedica Lovaniensia, No. 328

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