Impact of pulmonary rehabilitation training on Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) and asthma patients

The objective of this study is to assess the impact of pulmonary rehabilitation training in the management of asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients. A 6-month prospective interventional study was conducted in a tertiary care hospital that included participants above 18 to less than 70 years of age admitted to the general medicine ward with the diagnosis of mild-moderate chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and asthma without any other comorbidity or concurrent illness. The rehabilitation procedure consisted of breathing exercises and endurance training. Parameters like FEV1, FVC, modified medical research council scale, modified BORG grade, 6-minute walk test, and questionnaire like SF-36 were measured and compared with post-training results. A total of 80 patients were enrolled in the study. The pre and post-rehabilitation comparison in both COPD and asthma patients showed significant results in terms of improved dyspnea (FEV1, FVC, FEV1/FVC ratio; p=0.001) evident with modified Medical Research Council scores and modified BORG grades followed by significant differences in distance covered during 6-minute walk test (p=0.001) and health-related quality of life (SF-36 scores; p=0.001). Conclusion: Pulmonary rehabilitation significantly improved exercise tolerance, perception of dyspnea, health-related quality of life, and psychosocial behavior. Inclusion of pulmonary rehabilitation in COPD and asthma patients is essential to palliate the disease burden, reduce the rate of hospitalizations and improves the quality of life of a patients.