Source: Annual Congress 2006 - Training strategies and education in rehabilitation
Disease area: Airway diseases

Abstract

Background: Pulmonary rehabilitation in COPD patients is an effective measure to improve patients physical capacity and quality of life. Most of the previously published rehabilitation programs had a short-course design with duration ranging from 3 to 8 weeks. As effects that can be achieved initially wane following such a short-course program, the presented study was designed as a long term program using limited resources.
Methods: 118 patients with moderate to severe COPD (mean FEV₁ 45% predicted) were randomised to either a 26 week outpatient interdisciplinary rehabilitation program or a control group. Patients were assessed at baseline and after 26 weeks using lung function testing, spiroergometry, 6-minute-walking-test (6MWT) and evaluation of the quality of life. The interdisciplinary rehabilitation program contained one unit (1 h) of physical training per week in a physiotherapy practice in the patient‘s vicinity. Additional elements were patient education on COPD and nutrition, psycho-social and social counselling.
Results: 37 patients in the training group and 44 patients in the control group completed the study (37 drop outs). Mean 6MWT distance of the training group improved by 39 (±69) m whereas the control group lost a mean of 22 (±69) m. Maximum work rate determined by spiroergometry showed a nonsignificant trend to higher values in the training group. Parameters of the St. George‘s Respiratory Questionaire showed no significant changes in both groups.
Conclusion: Continuous training using limited resources is able to maintain improvements of exercise tolerance for at least six months in moderate to severe COPD patients.

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Citations should be made in the following way:
H. J. Baumann, K. Rummel, T. Schmoller, A. Meyer (Hamburg, Germany). Efficacy of a long term ambulatory interdisciplinary rehabilitation (AIR) program in moderate to severe COPD. Eur Respir J 2006; 28: Suppl. 50, 3195

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