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