Effects Of A Simple Early Pulmonary Rehabilitation Programme In Patients With Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

Objective To evaluate the effects of a simple early pulmonary rehabilitation programme in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). And to seek a suitable pulmonary rehabilitation programme under our present circumstance.Methods We recruited patients admitted to the Department of Respiratory Medicine, the First Affiliated Hospital of Kunming Medical College with a primary diagnosis of acute exacerbation of COPD. Fifty-two COPD patients were randomly divided into pulmonary rehabilitation group (n=24) and control group (n=28) after hospitalisation. A three month pulmonary rehabilitation programme started within ten days of hospital discharge, or usual care. The programme consisted of two classes per week for eight weeks. Each class lasted 1.5 hours, consisting of half an hour of educational activities and one hour of exercise. Patients also received individualized home exercise programme, which encouraged at least 20 minutes of exercise per day. Baseline assessment and outcome assessment were done respectively before and after pulmonary rehabilitation programme. Main outcome measures include: Six-Minute Walk Test (6MWT), Borg scale, St George's respiratory questionnaire (SGRQ), readmissions times, total hospital days and outpatient and emergency visit times in three months period.Results At the end of the programme, there were no significant changes in Borg scale. However, compared with before the programme, Six-Minute Walking Distance (6MWD) increased significantly after the programme [ (423.1 ±42.8) m, (327.9 ± 31.4) m. P<0.01]. There were also significant improvements in QOL (Quality Of Life) assessment with respect to activities score (67.8±3.9, 76.4±9.5. P<0.05) , impacts score (33.7±4.9, 60.5±9.5. P<0.01) and total score (49.6 ± 3.9, 66.6±...