Rehabilitation programs for patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) have become increasingly common in recent years. However, the efficacy of these programs has not been evaluated in randomized experimental studies. The objective of this proposal is to compare the effectiveness of a comprehensive pulmonary rehabilitation program versus education alone in producing improvement in both psychosocial and physiological functions in patients with COPD. We propose to randomly assign 120 COPD patients to either a rehabilitation program or to an education control group. The rehabilitation program will include twice weekly meetings for eight weeks. The program will have four components; 1) education, 2) physical and respiratory care, 3) psychosocial support, and 4) exercise training. Patients will return at monthly intervals for booster sessions. The control group will receive only the education component. Outcome measures will be selected from two general categories: psychosocial measures include: a general health status index, measures of efficacy expectations, health practices, depression, and social support. The physiological measures include: spirometry, plethysmographic measurements of static lung volumes, single breath diffusing capacity, rest and exercise measurements of arterial blood and expired gases to assess physical performance and gas exchange, and heart rate.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
5R01HL034732-04
Application #
3347980
Study Section
(SRC)
Project Start
1985-08-01
Project End
1989-07-31
Budget Start
1988-08-01
Budget End
1989-07-31
Support Year
4
Fiscal Year
1988
Total Cost
Indirect Cost
Name
University of California San Diego
Department
Type
Schools of Medicine
DUNS #
077758407
City
La Jolla
State
CA
Country
United States
Zip Code
92093
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