Effect of preoperative respiratory exercise on pulmonary function and complications in elderly patients after abdominal operation

Objective To compare and analyze the effects of preoperative respiratory function exercise on postoperative pulmonary function and complications in elderly patients who undergoing abdominal surgery. Methods A total of 92 elderly patients who underwent abdominal surgery were recruited. They were randomly divided into observation group(46 cases) and control group(46 cases) according to the random number table method. The control group was treated with routine preoperative care methods, the observation group was given preoperative respiratory exercise on the basis of the control group. The pulmonary function tests were performed pre and post surgery. Then, the postoperative pulmonary complications, VC, FEV1, FVC, MVV and the average length of hospital stay of the two groups were recorded and compared. Results After operation, the levels of VC, FEV1, FVC and MVV in the control group were (2.48±0.71)L, (51.40±10.10)L, (1.79±0.17)L, (62.40±13.00)L/min, respectively, which in the observation group were (2.89±0.72)L, (63.20±9.60)L, (2.21±0.16)L and(73.30±12.70)L/min, respectively, the differences between the two groups were significant(t=2.750, 5.743, 12.202, 4.068, all P<0.05). The average hospitalization time in the observation group was (11.62±1.41)d, which was significantly shorter than (15.56±6.23)d in the control group(t=4.163, P<0.001). The incidence rate of pulmonary infection in the control group was 26.09%, which was significantly higher than 8.69% in the observation group(χ2=4.842, P<0.05). Conclusion The respiratory function training can effectively reduce the incidence of postoperative pulmonary complications in elderly patients with abdominal surgery, improve the patients’ postoperative pulmonary function, and shorten the patients’ hospital recovery time. Respiratory function exercise is a simple method, and is worthy of promotion in related fields. Key words: Breathing exercises; Respiratory function tests; Postoperative complications; Aged