Our data indicate that dietary quality is low in COPD patients referred for pulmonary rehabilitation and differs between patients with different body composition profiles.

Aims:To evaluate outcomes of the Clinical Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) Questionnaire (CCQ) in patients with advanced COPD admitted for a post-acute pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) programme and to relate (change in) health status to lung function, degree of dyspnoea and (change in) functional capacity.Methods:This is a prospective observational study in patients with advanced COPD admitted for a post-acute PR programme in a skilled nursing facility. Health status (CCQ) and functional capacity were measured before and after rehabilitation.Results:Health status measured by the CCQ was severely impaired and showed significant and clinically relevant improvement during the post-acute PR programme. Moderate to strong correlations were found between CCQ scores and functional capacity on admission and at discharge. Moderate correlations were found between improvement in CCQ scores and improvement in functional capacity. No correlation was found between CCQ scores and lung function (forced expiratory volume in 1 s % predicted).Conclusions:Health status measured by the CCQ improves following a post-acute PR programme in patients with advanced COPD and correlates with improvement in functional capacity. These results suggest that the CCQ is sensitive to change in response to PR in this specific group of patients.

In view of the worldwide aging population, disease-specific geriatric rehabilitation (GR) programs are needed. Therefore, we developed and implemented a postacute GR program for patients with advanced chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) (the GR-COPD program). The aim of this study is to investigate the feasibility of the GR-COPD program and to present clinical data on patient characteristics and course of functional capacity and health status. This is a naturalistic prospective cohort study of patients with advanced COPD. A total of 61 patients entered the GR-COPD program and were eligible to participate in this study. All patients suffered from advanced COPD, and comorbidities were frequent. On admission, functional capacity and health status were severely limited but showed significant and clinically relevant improvement during the GR-COPD program. Patients with advanced COPD admitted to hospital for an acute exacerbation suffer from severely impaired functional capacity and poor health status. Development and implementation of a postacute GR program for these patients are feasible and likely to offer substantial improvements. Further research is essential and should focus on designing a controlled intervention trial to investigate the efficacy of the program.

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