Can Pulmonary Rehabilitation Improve the Well-being of COPD Patients: Experience at a Tertiary Care Hospital in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India

Abstract

Background. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a major cause of disease burden worldwide. Patients with COPD have impaired quality-of-life due to dyspnoea, frequent exacerbations, limitation of exercise capacity, muscle dysfunction, and malnutrition. Hence, pulmonary rehabilitation should be considered as a part of management of patients with COPD. Present study emphasises on the efficacy of pulmonary rehabilitation in improving the long-term well-being of patients with COPD.Methods. Fifty patients with COPD were included and were followed up at 8, 24, 48 and 96 weeks. Patients were taught exercises to strengthen the lower limb muscles, breathing exercises along with upper limb exercises.Results. The outcomes recorded after 96 th week of rehabilitation programme were as follows: dyspnoea grade at (4.1±1.06 versus 1.6±0.6 with paired 't' test of 20.8328, p<0.0001), health-related quality-of-life (HRQoL) (57.7±11.6 versus 38.7±10.6, 't' test 75.9631, p<0.0001), forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV 1 ) (43.1±16.0 versus 40.3±16.0, 't' test 19.1064, p<0.0001) FEV 1 /forced vital capacity (FVC) (0.86±0.11 versus 0.80±0.12, 't' test 17.0750, p<0.0001). Conclusion.Pulmonary rehabilitation reduces dyspnoea, increases the exercise capacity and improves qualityof-life, reduces frequent exacerbations, thus, improves overall well-being of patients with COPD, resulting in reduction of significant cost of health burden on society indirectly.