Respiratory rehabilitation improves physical capacity and quality of life in COPD patients as it has been previously reported. In Chile there are few and unpublished experiences on respiratory rehabilitation programs (RRP) implemented in primary health care (PHC). Our aim was to evaluate RRP outcome in COPD patients carried out in a rural PHC center.

Methods:

A prospective descriptive study of RRP in a PHC center implemented in Talagante (a village located 40 km from Santiago). COPD patients were enrolled in the study from July 2012 to May 2014. Patients having the inclusion criteria were admitted to a 12 weeks-long RPP This program included a 90 minute-long sessions of aerobic training (walking), strength training of upper and lower limbs (dumbbell, ankle support and elastic bands) and respiratory muscle training (threshold valve), twice a week. Quality of life, strength of trained muscles, six-minutes walking test (TM6), BODE index and dyspnea index, were measured before and after completing RRP Results were expressed as mean ± SD.

Results:

Out of 79 patients initially assessed, 54 were admitted to the RRP and 39 patients completed the program and were included in the analysis. Their mean age was 67.3 ± 8.5 years, 64% were female. In average BMI was 26.97 ± 4.3 kg/m², and FEVi was 1.17 ± 0.57 liters. We demonstrated a statistically significant improvement after RRP in 6-minute walk test (445.9 ± 77.9 m versus 498.2 ± 82.8 m, p < 0.001); Saint George’s Respiratory Questionnaire score (45.1 ± 16.1 versus 18.5 ± 11.5, p < 0.0001), PIMax (48.95 ± 18.8 versus 57.2 ± 19.4 cm H2O, p < 0.0001), BODE index (2.76 ± 1.37 versus 1.53 ± 1.0, p < 0.0001), and mMRC dyspnea scale (2.54 ± 0.75 versus 1.18 ± 0.56, p < 0.0001).

Conclusions:

Our results are consistent with those reported in the literature, demonstrating that COPD patients get beneficial effects with the respiratory rehabilitation program. We also showed that RRP can be implemented in primary health care using simple tools, with reasonable costs.