Additional Evidence for the Long-Term Benefits of Pulmonary Rehabilitation.

BACKGROUND Pulmonary rehabilitation programs document outcomes to prepare for program certification, to demonstrate the value of the program to upper management, and to provide feedback to pulmonary rehabilitation staff regarding the efficacy of the program. The overall goal of this study was to evaluate the feasibility of using non-research-generated clinical data to report long-term outcomes following a pulmonary rehabilitation program. METHODS Using a longitudinal descriptive design, all subjects who completed pulmonary rehabilitation at one community-based pulmonary rehabilitation program in the San Francisco Bay Area were asked to complete a 6-month and subsequent yearly questionnaires. Adherence to pulmonary rehabilitation techniques was described for 7 y following pulmonary rehabilitation participation, health-care utilization from 1 y before pulmonary rehabilitation was compared with subsequent years, and health-care utilization was compared between those who participated in ongoing regular exercise after pulmonary rehabilitation and those who did not exercise. RESULTS More than 70% of subjects who completed the questionnaire reported adherence to pulmonary rehabilitation techniques, including exercise for at least 7 y following pulmonary rehabilitation. Health-care utilization declined after pulmonary rehabilitation. Subjects who did not exercise regularly required significantly more health care than those who exercised regularly (P < .05). CONCLUSIONS This study demonstrated the ability of one pulmonary rehabilitation program to accurately monitor extended long-term follow-up after pulmonary rehabilitation. Implementing this long-term monitoring methodology consistently in pulmonary rehabilitation programs could contribute to evaluation of the comparative effectiveness of various treatment options.