Abstract
BACKGROUND: Pulmonary Rehabilitation (PR) is recommended for patients with COPD who are functionally limited with an MRC score of three or worse.
OBJECTIVE: To examine the demographic and clinical parameters of patients with COPD in relation to PR; using The Health Information Network (THIN) primary care database in UK from 1 January 2004 to 31 December 2011.
METHOD: We identified patients with COPD and divided them into two groups depend on if they have recorded PR or not.
RESULT: Recording of PR increases gradually since 2004 across the UK; of the 27,388 patients; only 2,964 patients (10.8%) have recorded PR on at least one occasion. Those who had PR were more likely to be younger at diagnosis, higher socio-economic status, worse MRC score, a current smoker, and have a higher level of comorbidity; however gender was not associated with a recording of PR. Furthermore, of those patients with MRC score of three or worse recorded at any point of time, only 18.6% had a recording of PR on at least one occasion.
CONCLUSION: Despite the effectiveness of PR for COPD; it is not recorded for the majority of patients with COPD.
- Copyright ©the authors 2016