The Efficacy of Supervised Home-based Pulmonary Rehabilitation in Patients with Chronic Respiratory Disorders

Objective: Pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) programs can be carried out in hospital or home basis with a different organizational aspect and program content. This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of a multidisciplinary supervised home-based PR program in patients with chronic respiratory disorders.
Methods: Forty patients with chronic respiratory disorders who admitted to our center between September 2007 and May 2012 were enrolled. In all patients before and after PR, dyspnea was assessed with Medical Research Council (MRC) dyspnea scale, exercise capacity with Incremental Shuttle Walk Test (ISWT) and Endurance Shuttle Walk Test (ESWT), health related quality of life with St. Geoerge Respiratory Questionnaire (SGRQ), psychosocial evaluation with hospital anxiety and depression scale (HAD), the body composition with bioelectrical impedance method. Ten patients did not complete home-based PR for various reasons.
Results: In patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), dyspnea sensation (p=0.026), exercise capacity (p=0.001), quality of life (p=0.001), body composition (p=0.012), anxiety and depression score (p=0.001) improvements were statistically significant. In all patients with COPD and non-COPD perception of dyspnea, exercise capacity, quality of life, anxiety and depression score improvements were above minimal clinically important differences.
Conclusion: In this study supervised home-based pulmonary rehabilitation has been shown as an effective and safe modality when applied by an experiencied and multidisciplinary team in selected severe COPD or non-COPD patients.