Related Experiment Video
Updated: Nov 12, 2025
Home-Based Prescribed Pulmonary Exercise in Patients with Stable Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease
Published on: August 24, 2019
Group-based exercise, individually supervised exercise and home-based exercise have similar clinical effects and
David Høyrup Christiansen1, Jakob Hjort2
1Department of Occupational Medicine, University Research Clinic, Danish Ramazzini Centre Regional Hospital Gødstrup, Herning, Denmark; Department of Clinical Medicine, Health, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark.
Question:
What are the relative effects of group-based exercise, individual exercise and home-based exercise on clinical outcomes and costs in patients with subacromial pain?
Design:
Multicentre, three-arm, randomised controlled trial with concealed allocation and intention-to-treat analysis.
Participants:
A total of 208 patients referred to municipal rehabilitation for management of subacromial pain in six municipalities in the Central Denmark Region.
Interventions:
Patients were randomly allocated to group-based exercise rehabilitation (GE), individual exercise rehabilitation (IE) or home exercise rehabilitation (HE) for a period of 8 weeks.
Outcome Measures:
The primary outcome measure was the shortened version of the Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder and Hand questionnaire (Quick-DASH). The secondary outcome measures included the EQ-5D-5L index, pain intensity, fear avoidance, psychological wellbeing, and the participant's perception of improvement and satisfaction. Healthcare and productivity costs were extracted from national health and social registers.
Results:
There was no important between-group difference in Quick-DASH scores at 6 months: adjusted mean differences GE minus IE -2 (95% CI -9 to 5), GE minus HE -2 (95% CI -9 to 5) and HE minus IE 1 (95% CI -6 to 7). The estimates of the between-group differences were able to exclude any clinically important differences in the three regimens' effects on health benefits according to the EQ-5D-5L index and other secondary outcomes. The total average costs were highest for the IE group and lowest for the HE, but not statistically different across groups.
Conclusion:
In people with subacromial pain, group-based exercise, individually supervised exercise and home-based supervised exercise regimens have similar benefits. The home exercise intervention was associated with lowest costs.
Trial Registration:
ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT03055117.
