Factors important to people with COPD and experts to optimise daily time-use: A Delphi study

Optimising physical activity (PA), sedentary behaviour (SB) and sleep (S) has shown promise for improving health outcomes for people with COPD. This study aimed to discern which factors are important to people with COPD and experts to optimise these behaviours.

Methods: A Delphi survey was conducted in four groups: people with COPD from Australia (SA-COPD) and the Netherlands (NL-COPD) and experts in COPD management (COPD-E) and public health (NCOPD-E). In Round 1, participants responded to the question: “What is important for people with COPD to: 1) stay active, 2) reduce time spent sitting/lying, 3) improve sleep quality?” Responses were collated into items within themes for each group. Rounds 2-3, participants rated items for importance (1-9) with items meeting a priori criteria (Median≥7, IQR≤2) retained. Round 4, retained items were combined and rated by all participants.

Results: Of 73 participants consented, 62 (85%) completed Round 4 (SA-COPD n=24; NL-COPD n=14; COPD-E n=13; NCOPD-E n=11) rating 157 items in 35 themes. Across all groups, a single theme (Manage symptoms) was considered important to improve PA, SB and S. Eight themes were considered important to improve PA, seven to improve SB and two to improve S (Figure 1).

Conclusion: Recognising and addressing factors important to people with COPD and experts may provide a basis for developing interventions to facilitate behaviour change toward PA, SB and S.