Home-based pulmonary rehabilitation reduces admissions for respiratory exacerbations and increases quality of life in MRC 5 group

Introduction: Evidence of effectiveness of home-based pulmonary rehabilitation (HPR) in patients with chronic respiratory diseases and MRC Dyspnoea Scale 5 is lacking. Aims: To investigate the effect of HPR on hospital admissions and quality of life (QoL). Methods: 90 patients (45 males) with mean[SD] age 73[10] years were recruited, 73(81%) with a primary diagnosis of COPD. A 6-week individualised exercise programme was prescribed. Patients were evaluated at baseline and at 6 weeks for sit-to-stand test (STS), Chronic Respiratory Disease Questionnaire (CRQ) and Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS). We collected data for hospital admissions and emergency department (ED) visits for 6 months before and after HPR assessing respiratory and non-respiratory episodes. We compared all measures using t-test. Results: There was statistically significant reduction in respiratory admissions and number of nights per respiratory admission (Table), but no significant difference (ND) in the number of ED visits. There was significant improvement (p Conclusions: In our study HPR improved QoL, and reduced hospital admissions and stay for acute exacerbations of respiratory diseases. On average 5.7 bed nights are saved per admission in 6 months. Randomised trials are required to explore potential benefits of HPR in patients with MRC 5 unable to attend hospital based rehabilitation.