QUESTION What are the views and perceptions of people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) regarding maintaining an active lifestyle following a course of pulmonary rehabilitation? DESIGN Qualitative study of two focus groups using a grounded theory approach. PARTICIPANTS Sixteen people with COPD who had completed a course of pulmonary rehabilitation. RESULTS Data from focus ...

Question: For patients with bronchiectasis, does pulmonary rehabilitation either with or without inspiratory muscle training (IMT) improve exercise tolerance? Design: Randomised controlled trial. Setting: Outpatient-based pulmonary rehabilitation program of a UK hospital. Patients: Patients with bronchiectasis confirmed by highresolution computer tomography. Exclusion criteria included concomit...

BACKGROUND Pulmonary rehabilitation seems to be an effective intervention in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. We undertook a randomised controlled trial to assess the effect of outpatient pulmonary rehabilitation on use of health care and patients' wellbeing over 1 year. METHODS 200 patients with disabling chronic lung disease (the majority with chronic obstructive pulmona...

BACKGROUND Long-term non-invasive positive pressure ventilation (NIPPV) might improve the outcomes of pulmonary rehabilitation in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) with chronic respiratory failure. A study was undertaken to investigate whether nocturnal NIPPV in addition to pulmonary rehabilitation improves health-related quality of life, functional status and gas excha...

BACKGROUND Patients with kyphoscoliosis and severe respiratory impairment frequently experience reduction in exercise tolerance, limitation in daily life activities, and deterioration in health-related quality of life (HRQOL). Noninvasive ventilation (NIV) as an add-on treatment to long-term oxygen therapy (LTOT) was shown to improve symptoms and HRQOL in these patients. Pulmonary rehabilitatio...

STUDY OBJECTIVES The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of a 3-week comprehensive pulmonary rehabilitation program on quality of life as measured by the Short Form-36 (SF-36) in patients with COPD. DESIGN AND SETTING We report on the outcomes of 37 consecutive patients referred for pulmonary rehabilitation at a respiratory specialty medical center. PATIENTS Thirty-seven patie...

Pulmonary rehabilitation is now regarded as an evidence-based treatment for symptomatic patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. It has been shown to enhance exercise tolerance, improve symptoms and health-related quality of life, and reduce exacerbations in patients with recurrent exacerbations. In this article we review the mechanisms through which exercise training results in ben...

BACKGROUND Pulmonary rehabilitation programs have been shown to increase functional exercise capacity and quality of life in COPD patients. However, following the completion of pulmonary rehabilitation the benefits begin to decline unless the program is of longer duration or ongoing maintenance exercise is followed. Therefore, the aim of this study is to determine if supervised, weekly, hospita...

Pulmonary rehabilitation results in substantial and clinically meaningful improvements in dyspnea, exercise capacity and quality of life for patients with chronic respiratory diseases such as COPD [1]. There is also evidence indicating that pulmonary rehabilitation reduces subsequent health care utilization [2] and – perhaps – mortality, if the intervention is given in the post-exacerbation per...