ciTechCare was represented at the ERS Congress 2024

The International Congress of the European Respiratory Society (ERS), that took place in Vienna from 7th to 11th September, counted on the participation of three ciTechCare researchers working in the field of physical activity and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) and exercise prehabilitation in patients with Lung Cancer, through the presentation of posters, as chair of several panel discussions and as part of the faculty.

Joana Cruz was member of the faculty of the ERS “Academy of pulmonary rehabilitation – Advanced”, in the workshops “Physical activity assessment” and “Physical activity coaching”, together with other renowned specialists in the field. During the Congress, Joana was also chair in the oral presentation session “Best abstracts in respiratory physiotherapy” and the poster session “Clinical respiratory physiology in COPD and respiratory muscles: what’s new?”.

Nádia Hipólito, PhD student, presented the poster entitled “Interventions to promote physical activity and reduce sedentary behaviour in COPD: a systematic review of methodologies”. This work, aiming to describe community interventions that tackle physical inactivity and sedentarism in people with COPD, identified a large variability in the methodologies used. This heterogeneity is present not only in the type of activity and how it is prescribed, but also in the complexity, duration and mode of delivery of interventions. Additionally, the detail in which the interventions are described is not always sufficient, which may hinder the assessment of efficacy and dissemination.

Sara Pimenta, MSc student, presented a secondary analysis of data from the OncoEnergy project, a PhD project from ciTechCare. This study aimed to explore the differences between responders and non-responders, as well as identify predictors response in health-related quality of life (HRQoL) following a pre-operative home-based exercise program developed within the OncoEnergy project. The findings suggest that having COPD predicts a positive response to the exercise intervention in terms of HRQoL. These results highlight the potential for tailored interventions to enhance this critical outcome, though further research is needed to identify additional predictors in larger samples.