Abstract: OBJECTIVE To investigate the effect of comprehensive pulmonary rehabilitation on exercise capacity and quality of life in elderly patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and stable pulmonary infection. METHODS A total of 128 cases of elderly patients with stable COPD combined with pulmonary infection in our hospital from Jan. 2016 to to Dec. 2016 were selected and divided into experimental group (n=64) and control group (n=64). Patients in the control group were treated with conventional therapy, while patients in the experimental group were treated with comprehensive pulmonary rehabilitation based on the control group. The course of treatment was 12 weeks in the two groups. The distribution of pathogenic bacteria was observed, and the therapeutic effects of the two groups were compared. The improvement of pulmonary function, exercise capacity and survival quality were observed before and after treatment. RESULTS A total of 109 strains of pathogenic bacteria were isolated from 128 patients, including 75 strains of gram-negative bacteria accounting for 68.81%, 28 strains of gram-positive bacteria accounting for 25.69%, and 6 strains of fungi accounting for 5.50%. The curative effect of the experimental group was significantly better than that of the control group (P<0.05). After treatment, the indexes of the two groups were significantly improved compared with those before treatment (P<0.05). The FEV₁, PEF and FEV₁/FVC of the experimental group after treatment were (1.74±0.38)L, (3.38±0.49)L, and (81.35±5.46)%, which were significantly higher than those of the control group (P<0.05).The 6MWT of the experimental group after treatment was (376.42±29.81) m, which was significantly higher than that of the control group, and the CAT of the experimental group was (8.14±1.37) points, which was significantly lower than that of the control group (P<0.05). The quality of life score of the experimental group after treatment was (122.03±7.51) points, which was significantly higher than that of the control group, and each score of quality was significantly better than that of the control group (P<0.05). CONCLUSION Comprehensive pulmonary rehabilitation has good efficacy in elderly patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients and stable pulmonary infection, and can significantly improve the exercise capacity and quality of life in patients.