Associations of Daily Step Goals With Prefrailty and Frailty in Patients With Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

Aim Maintaining physical activity and prevention of frailty is a main goal of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) management. We investigated whether setting a daily step goal, rather than simply owning a pedometer, is associated with a lower incidence of prefrailty/frailty in patients with COPD. Methods This cross‐sectional study prospectively enrolled patients with stable COPD and examined their frailty status (robust, prefrail, and frail) using the Japanese version of the Cardiovascular Health Study criteria (J‐CHS). All participants completed a self‐administered questionnaire regarding ownership of consumer‐grade pedometers or smartphone apps (pedometer users/nonusers) and daily step goals to evaluate everyday walking behavior and wore a medical‐grade accelerometer for seven consecutive days to obtain objective daily step counts. Results A total of 153 patients were included and classified into three groups: pedometer users with and without a daily step goal and nonusers ( n = 62, 11 and 80, respectively). The prevalence of prefrailty/frailty and the J‐CHS low‐activity domain was lower in pedometer users with a daily step goal than those without a goal (39% vs. 82%, and 13% vs. 64%, respectively). In multivariable models, the pedometer users with a daily step goal were prefrail/frail less likely than the pedometer users without a goal after adjusting for age, body mass index, smoking history, lung function, or 6‐min walk distance. Conclusions In patients with stable COPD, the daily use of pedometers with a daily step goal may be associated with a lower prevalence of frailty. These findings underscore the importance of goal‐oriented strategies in COPD management.