PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Vasilopoulou, Maroula
AU  - Papaioannou, Andriana I.
AU  - Chynkiamis, Nikolaos
AU  - Vasilogiannakopoulou, Theodora
AU  - Spetsioti, Stavroula
AU  - Louvaris, Zafeiris
AU  - Kortianou, Eleni
AU  - Kocsis, Otilia
AU  - Tsopanoglou, Athanasios
AU  - Feridou, Chrysoula
AU  - Plataniti, Eustathia
AU  - Thomopoulou, Alexia
AU  - Kaltsakas, Georgios
AU  - Koulouris, Nikolaos G.
AU  - Vogiatzis, Ioannis
TI  - Effectiveness of home tele-rehabilitation on functional capacity and daily physical activity in COPD patients
AID  - 10.1183/13993003.congress-2015.OA273
DP  - 2015 Sep 01
TA  - European Respiratory Journal
PG  - OA273
VI  - 46
IP  - suppl 59
4099  - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/46/suppl_59/OA273.short
4100  - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/46/suppl_59/OA273.full
SO  - Eur Respir J2015 Sep 01; 46
AB  - Aim: To compare the benefits of home tele-rehabilitation to those of hospital-based maintenance rehabilitation in COPD patients, following a 2-month course of supervised pulmonary rehabilitation.Methods: 95 COPD patients were assigned to home tele-rehabilitation (n=47, FEV1%: 50±22predicted), or twice weekly hospital-based rehabilitation (n=48, FEV1%: 52±17predicted). Tele-rehabilitation included home exercise training, self-management techniques, dietary and psychological advice. Patients were provided with tablets and wireless devices to record and transmit data regarding symptoms, lung function and vital signs to a tele-health platform.Results: The initial two months of supervised exercise training significantly improved 6 minute walking distance, daily physical activity (DPA), chronic dyspnea and quadriceps muscle strength in all patients. Six months later home tele-rehabilitation was equally effective to hospital-based rehabilitation in terms of maintaining the initial significant improvement in 6 minute walking distance (2-months: 417±134 versus 8-months: 415±132m), DPA (2-months: 3931±2774 versus 8-months: 3749±2441 steps), mMRC (2-months: 1.7±1.0 versus 8-months: 1.6±0.9) and quadriceps muscle strength (2-months: 32±10 versus 8-months: 33±12 Kg).Conclusion: Home tele-rehabilitation is equally effective to hospital-based maintenance rehabilitation in preserving long-term the initial benefits acquired during pulmonary rehabilitation.This work was funded by the Greek General Secretariat for Research and Technology (Telecare: 11SYN_10_1438).