Different short-term and longitudinal results on perceived health status for asthma and COPD patients after pulmonary rehabilitation. Patients living alone have the largest improvements in perceived quality of life

Abstract

A combined sample (n = 132) of asthma (70%, n = 92) and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) (30%, n = 40) patients was assessed for short-term and longitudinal changes in perceived health status (HS), quality of life (QoL), and trait anxiety after a 4-week inpatient pulmonary rehabilitation program (PRP). The total sample improved on HS (P = 0.009, effect size (ES) = 0.12) and QoL (P = 0.011, ES = 0.16) immediately after rehabilitation but improvements diminished at 6 months follow-up. Trait anxiety scores changed very little. The COPD group improved on HS immediately after the rehabilitation program (P = 0.005, ES = 0.16) but scores had deteriorated at follow-up. The asthma group had only a small and non-significant HS improvement immediately after the program but got better during the follow-up period and improved significantly on HS (P = 0.040, ES = 0.21) from before rehabilitation to follow-up 6 months after the program. Within both diagnosis groups, patients who were living alone had the largest improvements in QoL scores. PRP may have different longitudinal effects for patients with asthma and COPD. After-care procedures are probably important in rehabilitation of patients with COPD. Chronic Respiratory Disease 2008; 5: 69-73

Relapse of health related quality of life and psychological health in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease 6 months after rehabilitation

“…Six months afterwards, however, these improvements had faded with significant deterioration of HRQL, anxiety and depression. These findings are in line with Haave & Hyland (34), who found transient effect of a 4‐week inpatient rehabilitation programme on perceived quality of life and anxiety in patients with COPD as they had relapsed by the 6‐month follow‐up. Our findings may be attributed to the length of the rehabilitation programme, i.e.…”

“…Further, follow‐up regimes, e.g. monthly follow‐up telephone calls and regular reinforcement visits, tend to produce better longitudinal results (34). In the present study, one centre offered telephone follow‐up talks after 3 weeks and two centres offered a 2‐week reinforcement visit 9 or 12 months after discharge.…”

Behavioral Medicine Approaches to Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

“…In this regard, patients living with a partner or perceiving high satisfaction with available social support showed less hospital readmission rates, dyspnea, or depressive symptoms as well as improved exercise tolerance and survival rates compared to patients living alone or perceiving low satisfaction with social support [55, 56]. However, other studies failed to observe such associations or found patients living alone to show even greater improvements in quality of life after pulmonary rehabilitation [57, 58]. The specific mechanisms that might underlie possible associations between stronger social support and better COPD disease status remain to be investigated.…”

Anxiety and depression following pulmonary rehabilitation

“…However, Haave et al. (24) found that anxiety tended to increase after 6 months. Similarly, Griffiths et al.…”