Differences in patient outcomes between a 6, 7 and 8 week pulmonary rehabilitation programme: A service evaluation

Physiotherapy. 2015 Mar;101(1):62-8. doi: 10.1016/j.physio.2014.04.002. Epub 2014 Apr 21.

Abstract

Objective: To investigate changes and differences in patient outcomes over time for 6, 7 and 8 week pulmonary rehabilitation programmes in order to identify optimal duration.

Setting: Community based pulmonary rehabilitation programmes in the East of England.

Participants: In total 363 participants completed one of the three pulmonary rehabilitation programmes. Patients with a chronic respiratory condition showing a commitment to the pulmonary rehabilitation programme and no contraindications to exercise were included.

Intervention: Pulmonary rehabilitation twice a week for 6, 7 or 8 weeks.

Main outcome measures: St Georges Respiratory Questionnaire (SGRQ), Clinical COPD Questionnaire (CCQ), Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) and Incremental Shuttle Walk Test (ISWT).

Results: All programmes showed improvements in ISWT post rehabilitation, with the 8 week programme showing the greatest improvement.

Conclusion: Findings show that greatest improvements in terms of exercise capacity may be seen from 8 week pulmonary rehabilitation programmes, but that improvement for the ISWT can be obtained from 6, 7 or 8 week programmes.

Keywords: COPD; Duration of programme; Pulmonary rehabilitation.

Publication types

  • Comparative Study
  • Evaluation Study

MeSH terms

  • Cohort Studies
  • Confidence Intervals
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Program Development
  • Program Evaluation
  • Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive / diagnosis*
  • Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive / rehabilitation*
  • Respiratory Function Tests
  • Respiratory Therapy / methods*
  • Retrospective Studies
  • Severity of Illness Index
  • State Medicine / organization & administration
  • Time Factors
  • United Kingdom