Effectiveness of Pulmonary Rehabilitation in Patients With Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease With Different Degrees of Static Lung Hyperinflation.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effect of pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) on exercise performance and quality of life in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) with different degrees of static lung hyperinflation (LH). DESIGN: Retrospective cohort study. SETTING: PR network. PARTICIPANTS: A cohort of 1981 patients with COPD (55% men; age: 66.8±9.3y; forced expiratory volume in the first second%: 50.7±19.5; residual volume [RV]%: 163.0±49.7). INTERVENTION: An interdisciplinary PR program for patients with COPD consisting of 40 sessions. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Participants were stratified into 5 quintiles according to baseline RV and were evaluated on the basis of pre- and post-PR 6-minute walk distance (6MWD), constant work rate test (CWRT), and Saint George's Respiratory Questionnaire (SGRQ), among other clinical parameters. RESULTS: With increasing RV quintile, patients were younger, more frequently women, had lower forced expiratory volume in the first second%, lower body mass index and fat-free mass index, shorter 6MWD, shorter CWRT, and worse SGRQ scores (P<.01). All RV strata improved after PR in all 3 outcomes (P<.001). Nevertheless, higher, compared to lower RV categories, had lower ΔCWRT (P<.01) but similar Δ6MWD (P=.948) and ΔSGRQ (P=.086) after PR. CONCLUSIONS: LH in COPD is related to younger age, female sex, lower body weight, worse exercise capacity and health status, but did not prevent patients from benefitting from PR. LH, however, influences walking and cycling response after PR differently.

Differential response to pulmonary rehabilitation in COPD: multidimensional profiling.

The aim of the present study was to profile a multidimensional response to pulmonary rehabilitation in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).Dyspnoea, exercise performance, health status, mood status and problematic activities of daily life were assessed before and after a 40-session pulmonary rehabilitation programme in 2068 patients with COPD (mean forced expiratory volume in 1 s of 49% predicted). Patients were ordered by their overall similarity concerning their multidimensional response profile, which comprises the overall response on MRC dyspnoea grade, 6MWD, cycle endurance time, Canadian Occupational Performance Measure performance and satisfaction scores, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale anxiety and depression, and St George's Respiratory Questionnaire total score, using a novel non-parametric regression technique.Patients were clustered into four groups with distinct multidimensional response profiles: n=378 (18.3%; "very good responder"), n=742 (35.9%; "good responder"), n=731 (35.4%; "moderate responder"), and n=217 (10.5%; "poor responder"). Patients in the "very good responder" cluster had higher symptoms of dyspnoea, number of hospitalisations <12 months, worse exercise performance, worse performance and satisfaction scores for problematic activities of daily life, more symptoms of anxiety and depression, worse health status, and a higher proportion of patients following an inpatient PR programme compared to the other three clusters.A multidimensional response outcome needs to be considered to study the efficacy of pulmonary rehabilitation services in patients with COPD, as responses to regular outcomes are differential within patients with COPD.

Multidimensional outcome assessment of pulmonary rehabilitation in traits-based clusters of COPD patients.

BACKGROUND: Clusters of COPD patients have been reported in order to individualize the treatment program. Neither co-morbidity clusters, nor integrated respiratory physiomics clusters contributed to a better prediction of outcomes. Based on a thoroughly assessed set of pulmonary and extra-pulmonary traits at the start of a pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) program, we recently described seven clusters of COPD patients. The aims of this study are to confirm multidimensional differential response and to assess the potential of pulmonary and extra-pulmonary traits-based clusters to predict this multidimensional response to PR pulmonary in COPD patients. METHODS: Outcomes of a 40-session PR program for COPD patients, referred by a chest physician, were evaluated based on the minimal clinically important difference (MCID) for 6-minute walk distance (6MWD), cycle endurance time, Canadian Occupational Performance Measure performance and satisfaction scores, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale anxiety and depression scores, MRC dyspnea grade and St George's Respiratory Questionnaire. The aforementioned response indicators were used to calculate the overall multidimensional response and patients were grouped in very good, good, moderate and poor responders. In the same way, responses to pulmonary rehabilitation were compared based on seven previously identified pulmonary and extra-pulmonary traits-based clusters. RESULTS: Of the whole sample, drop out was 19% and 419 patients (55.4% males, age: 64.3 ± 8.8, FEV1% of predicted: 48.9 ± 20) completed the pulmonary rehabilitation program. Very good responders had significantly worse baseline characteristics with a higher burden of disease, a higher proportion of rollator-users, higher body mass index (BMI), more limitations of activities in daily life, emotional dysfunction, higher symptoms of dyspnea and worse quality of life. Of the seven pre-identified clusters, 'the overall best functioning cluster' and 'the low disease burden cluster' both including the best 6MWD, the lowest dyspnea score and the overall best health status, demonstrated attenuated outcomes, while in 'the cluster of disabled patients', 76% of the patients improved health status with at least 2 times MCID. This 'cluster of disabled patients' as well as 'the multimorbid cluster', 'the emotionally dysfunctioning cluster', 'the overall worst-functioning cluster' and 'the physically dysfunctioning cluster' all demonstrated improvements in performance and satisfaction for occupational activities (more than 65% of patients improved with > 1MCID), emotional functioning (more than 50% of patients improved with > 1 MCID) and overall health status (more than 58%). CONCLUSION: The current study confirms the differential response to pulmonary rehabilitation based on multidimensional response profiling. Cluster analysis of baseline traits illustrates that non-linear, clinically important differences can be achieved in the most functionally and emotionally impaired clusters and that 'the overall best functional cluster' as well as 'the low disease burden cluster' had an attenuated outcome.

Gender differences in partners of patients with COPD and their perceptions about the patients.

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) not only affects patients but also their partners. Gender-related differences in patients with COPD are known, for instance regarding symptoms and quality of life. Yet, research regarding gender differences in partners of patients with COPD has been conducted to a lesser extent, and most research focused on female partners. We aimed to investigate differences between male and female partners of patients with COPD regarding their own characteristics and their perceptions of patients' characteristics. DESIGN: Cross-sectional study. SETTING: Four hospitals in the Netherlands. PARTICIPANTS: One hundred and eighty-eight patient-partner couples were included in this cross-sectional study. MEASUREMENTS: General and clinical characteristics, health status, care dependency, symptoms of anxiety and depression, social support, caregiver burden, and coping styles were assessed during a home visit. RESULTS: Female partners had more symptoms of anxiety and a worse health status than male partners. Social support and caregiver burden were comparable, but coping styles differed between male and female partners. Female partners thought that male patients were less care dependent and had more symptoms of depression, while these gender differences did not exist in patients themselves. CONCLUSION: Health care providers should pay attention to the needs of all partners of patients with COPD, but female partners in particular. Obtaining an extensive overview of the patient-partner couple, including coping styles, health status, symptoms of anxiety, and caregiver burden, is necessary to be able to support the couple as effectively as possible.

Influence of introduction of positron emission tomography on adherence to mediastinal staging protocols and performance of mediastinoscopy.

PURPOSE: In this study, we investigated the impact of implementation of [(18)F] fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (FDG-PET) in daily practice on adherence to mediastinal staging protocols and performance of mediastinoscopy in non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients who are possible candidates for surgical resection. Institutional review board approval was obtained. PATIENTS AND METHODS: From a nonuniversity teaching hospital and three surrounding community hospitals in Eindhoven, the Netherlands, we studied data from 143 patients with NSCLC who underwent mediastinoscopy and/or thoracotomy in three consecutive periods (1, 0 to 9 months; 2, 10 to 18 months; and 3, 19 to 31 months) after introduction of PET. Mediastinoscopy was indicated in case of enlarged and/or PET-positive nodes. Adherence to these surgical mediastinal staging guidelines and the performance of PET and mediastinoscopy were investigated and compared between the three periods and with our previous study before introduction of PET. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: Guidelines for indicating mediastinoscopy were adequately followed in significantly more instances after introduction of PET (80%), compared with the period before PET (66%). Optimal yield (lymph node stations 4, right and left, and 7) of mediastinoscopy (in 27% of patients) was not significantly different from the period before PET (39% of patients). Compared with the historical data, the percentage of positive mediastinoscopies increased from 15.5 to 17.6 (not significant). We found no significant differences between the three consecutive periods with regard to adequacy of indicating and performance of mediastinoscopy. After introduction of PET, adherence to staging guidelines with respect to mediastinoscopy improved. Although fewer mediastinoscopies had an optimal yield, more proved to be positive for metastases. Nevertheless, when a mediastinoscopy is indicated, surgeons must be encouraged to reach an optimal yield because PET positive nodes might be false negative. This occurred in 5% to 6% of all patients.