Effect of Pulmonary Rehabilitation Program on Severity of Symptoms in Patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

Cough and dyspnea are two most common symptoms in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of pulmonary rehabilitation program on severity of symptoms in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. This study was a clinical trial in which 70 patients with mild and moderate chronic obstructive pulmonary disease were recruited from an outpatient clinic and were randomly divided into two experimental and control groups. The control group received routine visits. The experimental group patients participated in the pulmonary rehabilitation program. They were also encouraged to practice the rehabilitation practices at home three times per week for 7 weeks. They were followed up via telephone contacts weekly. Data gathering tools were a demographic questionnaire and the dyspnea and cough severity scale which were completed at baseline and 7 weeks after the intervention by the patients. Data were analyzed using the Chi-squared test, Fisher exact test, Independent and paired T tests, Mann whitney and Wilcoxon tests. There were significant differences between severity of dyspnea and cough before and after the intervention in the experiment group (P≤0.001); and between the two groups after the intervention (P≤0.001). The pulmonary rehabilitation program was effective in decreasing severity of symptoms in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.