Pulmonary Rehabilitation During Acute Exacerbations of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease: a Mixed-methods Approach
Status:
Recruiting
Trial end date:
2023-05-31
Target enrollment:
Participant gender:
Summary
This study aims to i) assess the short-, mid- and long-term effectiveness of a
patient-centred community-based pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) programme during during acute
exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (AECOPD); ii) establish the minimal
clinical important differences for PR in AECOPD for clinical and patient-reported outcome
measures; and iii) evaluate patients' perspectives and self-reported impact of the PR
programme.
Patients with AECOPD will be recruited via clinicians at hospitals and primary care centres.
Sociodemographic, anthropometric and clinical data; vital signs and peripheral oxygen
saturation; symptoms (dyspnoea, fatigue, cough and sputum); lung function; physical activity
level; peripheral muscle strength; functional status; exercise tolerance; impact of the
disease and health-related quality of life will be collected within 24h-48h of the AECOPD
diagnosis. Then, patients will be randomly allocated to either conventional treatment or
conventional treatment plus PR. After 3 weeks, all outcome measures will be reassessed.
Additionally, follow-ups at 2, 6 and 12 months will be performed through phone calls to
assess the number of recurrent AECOPD, healthcare utilization and mortality.
Conventional treatment will consist on daily medical treatment prescribed by the physician
(i.e., medication).
Community-based PR will involve 6 sessions (2 times per week) of breathing retraining and
airway clearance techniques, exercises for thoracic mobility, expansion and flexibility,
cardiorespiratory exercise training, education and psychosocial support.
It is expected that, by including PR in the treatment of patients with AECOPD, they will
express greater improvements in a shorter period of time and experience a decrease number of
re-exacerbations and healthcare utilization.