A Prospective Multicentric Study of Pulmonary Rehabilitation in Patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease and Different Clinical Phenotypes

Background: Recently, it has been proposed that different clinical phenotypes can be recognized in patients with chronic obstructive disease (COPD), namely predominant airway disease or parenchymal destructive changes. Objectives: The aim of this prospective multicenter study was to evaluate whether these two phenotypes may influence outcomes following a pulmonary rehabilitation program (PRP). Methods: We have prospectively evaluated 364 consecutive COPD patients (70 ± 8 years, 76.3% males) admitted to a standard hospital-based PRP in 6 Italian centers. According to their phenotype, the study cohort was divided into two groups: patients with airway obstructive (group 1, n = 208) or parenchymal destructive COPD (group 2, n = 156). Before and after PRP, values of 6-min walking distance, perceived Received: October 17, 2014 Accepted after revision: December 2, 2014 Published online: January 28, 2015 Nicolino Ambrosino Auxilium Vitae Borgo S. Lazzaro 5 IT–56048 Volterra (Italy) E-Mail nico.ambrosino @ gmail.com © 2015 S. Karger AG, Basel 0025–7931/15/0892–0141$39.50/0