RT Journal Article SR Electronic T1 Quality of life in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease improves after rehabilitation at home JF European Respiratory Journal JO Eur Respir J FD European Respiratory Society SP 269 OP 273 DO 10.1183/09031936.94.07020269 VO 7 IS 2 A1 PJ Wijkstra A1 R Van Altena A1 J Kraan A1 V Otten A1 DS Postma A1 GH Koeter YR 1994 UL http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/7/2/269.abstract AB We have developed a rehabilitation programme at home and have investigated its effects on quality of life (QOL), lung function, and exercise tolerance in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). We studied 43 patients with severe airflow obstruction: forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1) 1.3 +/- 0.4 l (mean +/- SD), FEV1/inspiratory vital capacity (IVC) 37 +/- 7.9%. After stratification, 28 patients were randomly allocated in a home rehabilitation programme for 12 weeks. Fifteen patients in a control group received no rehabilitation. The rehabilitation group received physiotherapy by the local physiotherapist, and supervision by a nurse and a general practitioner. Quality of life was assessed by the four dimensions of the Chronic Respiratory Questionnaire (CRQ). We found a highly significant improvement in the rehabilitation group compared to the control group for the dimensions dyspnoea, emotion, and mastery. Lung function showed no changes in the rehabilitation group. The exercise tolerance improved significantly in the rehabilitation group compared to the control group. The improvement in quality of life was not correlated with the improvement in exercise tolerance. Rehabilitation of COPD patients at home may improve quality of life; this improvement is not correlated with an improvement in lung function and exercise tolerance.