TY - JOUR T1 - Vitamin D status in patients with COPD who participate in pulmonary rehabilitation (PR): Characteristics and effects of PR JF - European Respiratory Journal JO - Eur Respir J VL - 38 IS - Suppl 55 SP - 1892 AU - Thomas Ringbaek AU - Jane Thoegersen AU - Gerd Martinez AU - Peter Lange Y1 - 2011/09/01 UR - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/38/Suppl_55/1892.abstract N2 - Vitamin D deficiency is common in COPD patients, however no study has evaluated the influence of vitamin D status on effects of pulmonary rehabilitation.We studied 311 patients, who participated in a 7-week outpatient pulmonary rehabilitation programme (PR). Vitamin D status was assessed at entry and examined for association with patients' characteristics, drop out from PR, and effect on endurance shuttle walk time (ESWT).Vitamin D level ≤25 nM was seen in 61 (19.6%) of the patients. They were significantly younger, were more frequently on long-term oxygen therapy, had higher BMI and FFMI, had worse quality of life score, tended to have lower FEV1% predicted value and more frequently to be current smokers. They had a 3-times higher risk of drop out from the PR programme (p=0.003) compared to patients with normal vitamin D status and a poorer improvement in ESWT (p=0.03).In conclusion, vitamin D deficiency was significantly associated with higher drop out rates from PR and there was a tendency towards a poorer improvement in ESWT. ER -