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The Impact of Early Pulmonary Rehabilitation on Multidimensional Aspect of Dyspnea in COPD Patients After Exacerbation

Not Applicable
Completed
Conditions
Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease
Interventions
Other: pulmonary rehabilitation
Registration Number
NCT03611127
Lead Sponsor
Ain Shams University
Brief Summary

Acute exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (AECOPD) are associated with severe dyspnea and exercise intolerance. Early pulmonary rehabilitation (EPR) may lead to improvements in dyspnea and exercise tolerance, as it does in stable COPD patients.

Detailed Description

One hundred and six patients admitted in a university hospital with AECOPD were randomized after discharge to either EPR for 8 weeks (EPR group) or usual care (UC) (UC group). All patients carried out the following initially and after 8 weeks: spirometry, 6minute walk test (SMWT), and a symptom-limited incremental cycle cardiopulmonary exercise test (CPET), and different dyspnea dimensions evaluation as following: Dyspnea intensity during incremental exercise using Borg scale, dyspnea 12 questionnaire and COPD assessment test (CAT) to assess sensory perceptual, affective distress, and symptom impact domains respectively.

Recruitment & Eligibility

Status
COMPLETED
Sex
Male
Target Recruitment
80
Inclusion Criteria
  • Hospitalized COPD patients with a diagnosis of AECOPD with no clinically significant arterial hypoxemia at rest or on exercise (resting percutaneous oxygen saturation (SpO2) > 90% or a sustained decrease of < 4% during exercise) were recruited. Diagnosis of COPD, AECOPD and spirometric assessment of airflow limitation severity was based on Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD)
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Exclusion Criteria
  • Patients with a prior diagnosis of other cardiorespiratory conditions (i.e., bronchial asthma, interstitial lung diseases, primary pulmonary hypertension, chronic congestive heart failure), as well as other conditions such as orthopedic, muscular and peripheral vascular diseases that could cause or contribute to breathlessness and exercise intolerance and/or could interfere with carrying out of exercise testing, were excluded.
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Study & Design

Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Study Design
PARALLEL
Arm && Interventions
GroupInterventionDescription
early pulmonary rehabilitation (EPR)pulmonary rehabilitationearly pulmonary rehabilitation started shortly after hospital discharge for COPD exacerbation.
Primary Outcome Measures
NameTimeMethod
change in exercise performance (test duration: longer duration measured in seconds indicating better performance)8 weeks

cardiopulmonary exercise tests

change in exercise performance (borg scale during incremental exercise measuring the perceived dyspnea: scale 0-10, higher score indicating worse performance8 weeks

cardiopulmonary exercise tests

change in different aspects of dyspnea (dyspnea 12 questionnaire: scale range 0-36, with high score indicating worse dyspnea, and COPD assessment test: scale range 0-40, high score indicating worse dyspnea).8 weeks

dyspnea questionnaires

change in exercise performance (Peak oxygen consumption: Higher values indicating better performance)8 weeks

cardiopulmonary exercise tests

Secondary Outcome Measures
NameTimeMethod
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