LAUSR

Introduction: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) alters the cardiac autonomic modulation, rehabilitation protocols can influence heart rate variability. Objective: This study aimed to verify if a pulmonary rehabilitation protocol modifies the autonomic modulation of the heart rate of individuals with COPD. Methods: Twenty-eight volunteers with severe and very severe obstructive disease who underwent heart rate variability evaluation with a POLAR® RS800CX cardiac monitor for 10 minutes in a supine position and analyzed in the Kubios HRV 2.2 program. The rehabilitation protocol consisted of In aerobic physical training and muscle strengthening during 8 weeks, with 2 sessions per week, lasting 50 minutes. Statistical analysis was performed in the softwere BioEstat® 5.2. The Shapiro-Wilk test was used to verify the distribution of the data. From their normality, the student9s t-test was used for the analysis of significance. For the nominal variables the Binominal test was used. Values of p Conclusion: The pulmonary rehabilitation protocol in COPD patients improves the autonomic modulation of the heart rate, increasing the parasympathetic influence.