The effects of respiratory training for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients: a randomised clinical trial

Aims and objectives: To assess the effects of respiratory training on lung function, activity tolerance and quality of life in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Background: For patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, pulmonary rehabilitation can increase activity tolerance and improve their psychological state by relieving dyspnoea and promoting their quality of life.

Design: A randomised clinical trial was conducted in a local hospital.

Methods: Patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease were randomly assigned to intervention (n=20) and control groups (n=20). Spirometry, six-minute walking distance and quality of life were used to assess the efficacy of respiratory training programme.

Results: Significant improvement in lung function, including forced vital capacity (p=0.037), forced expiratory volume in one-second (p=0.006) and per cent predicted forced expiratory volume in one-second (p=0.008) in the intervention group. Regarding efficacy of the training programme for patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, in forced expiratory volume in one-second (p=0.024) and per cent predicted forced expiratory volume in one-second (p=0.035), six-minute walking distance significantly increased. In addition, there were significant improvements for symptoms (p=0.018), impact (p<0.001) and total quality of life scores (p<0.001), as well as significantly decreased body mass, airflow obstruction, dyspnoea and exercise capacity index (p=0.004) in the intervention group.

Conclusions: A respiratory training programme for patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease was found to relieve dyspnoea, maintain lung function, increase activity tolerance and improve quality of life.

Relevance to clinical practice: Respiratory training programme can be used as a routine rehabilitation protocol for patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and can be used by nurses as a reference to monitor chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients' health status.