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Updated: Feb 8, 2026

Home-Based Prescribed Pulmonary Exercise in Patients with Stable Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease
Published on: August 24, 2019
Effectiveness of Pulmonary Rehabilitation in Patients With Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease With Different
Michiel J Vanfleteren1, Maud Koopman2, Martijn A Spruit2
1Department of Research and Education, Center of Expertise for Chronic Organ Failure (CIRO), Horn, the Netherlands; Department of Respiratory Medicine, Maastricht University Medical Centre (MUMC+), Maastricht, the Netherlands.
Objective:
To evaluate the effect of pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) on exercise performance and quality of life in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) with different degrees of static lung hyperinflation (LH).
Design:
Retrospective cohort study.
Setting:
PR network.
Participants:
A cohort of 1981 patients with COPD (55% men; age: 66.8±9.3y; forced expiratory volume in the first second%: 50.7±19.5; residual volume [RV]%: 163.0±49.7).
Intervention:
An interdisciplinary PR program for patients with COPD consisting of 40 sessions.
Main Outcome Measures:
Participants were stratified into 5 quintiles according to baseline RV and were evaluated on the basis of pre- and post-PR 6-minute walk distance (6MWD), constant work rate test (CWRT), and Saint George's Respiratory Questionnaire (SGRQ), among other clinical parameters.
Results:
With increasing RV quintile, patients were younger, more frequently women, had lower forced expiratory volume in the first second%, lower body mass index and fat-free mass index, shorter 6MWD, shorter CWRT, and worse SGRQ scores (P<.01). All RV strata improved after PR in all 3 outcomes (P<.001). Nevertheless, higher, compared to lower RV categories, had lower ΔCWRT (P<.01) but similar Δ6MWD (P=.948) and ΔSGRQ (P=.086) after PR.
Conclusions:
LH in COPD is related to younger age, female sex, lower body weight, worse exercise capacity and health status, but did not prevent patients from benefitting from PR. LH, however, influences walking and cycling response after PR differently.
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