Abstract
Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a progressive and fatal lung disease manifests in dyspnea, exercise intolerance and poor quality of life (QOL). The aim of the study was to examine the long-term effect of exercise training (ET) based pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) on clinical outcomes in IPF patients.
METHODS: 32 IPF patients randomaly assigned to ET group (n=15) who participated in 12-week supervised exercise PR or control group (n=17) who continued with standard care. All patients were followed for 15 months after completing the intervention. Pulmonary function, exercise test, 6MWD, mMRC and SGRQ were assessed at baseline, after 12 weeks and after 11months from baseline.
RESULTS: After 12-week intervention ET group improved significantly exercise tolerance, pulmonary function, dyspnea and QOL, while the control group had a trend of deterioration. At follow up ET group loss the achieved improvements and return to baseline values, while the control group showed a trend of continuous worsening. Mean differences (Δ=Follow up-post intervention)ΔVO2peak: -2.9 mL/kg/min, p=0.001, Δ6MWD: -25 m, p=0.285, ΔFVC %predicted: -4.7, p=0.132, ΔmMRC: 0.5 units, p=0.055, SGRQ: 7.9 units, p= 0.041. During the follow up 2 cases of death occurred (11% (ET) vs 13% (control),χ2= 0.016, p=0.9) in each group.
CONCLUSION: Short-term exercise PR in patients with IPF improves clinical outcomes. The achieved benefits were unpreserved for the long-term, but were maintained at the baseline levels. Exercise PR did not affects survival among IPF patients. These results emphasize the clinical significance of long-term exercise PR programs for IPF patients.
- © 2014 ERS
