A Prospective Multicentric Study of Pulmonary Rehabilitation in Patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease and Different Clinical Phenotypes

Background. Recently it has been proposed that different clinical phenotypes can be recognised in COPD patients, namely predominant airway disease or parenchymal destructive changes. Objectives. The aim of this prospective multicentric study was to evaluate whether these two phenotypes may influence outcomes following a pulmonary rehabilitation program (PRP). Methods. We have prospectively evaluated 364 consecutive COPD (70±8 years, 76.3% males) admitted to a standard hospital-based PRP in 6 Italian centres and divided according to their phenotype into airway obstructive (Group 1, n=208) or parenchimal destructive (Group 2, n=156). Pre-to-post PRP values of six-minute walking distance, perceived breathlessness score (Medical Research Council), health related quality of life (St.George’s Respiratory Questionnaire), and respiratory muscle function (maximal inspiratory and expiratory pressure) were recorded. Results. PRP resulted in significant improvements in all outcome measures without any significant differences between groups. Conclusions. Our study confirms that COPD patients may benefit from pulmonary rehabilitation independent on their clinical phenotype.