The effects of reducing the frequency of long-term physiotherapy on patients with severe COPD: a Dutch multicenter study

Abstract

Purpose

To investigate if a reduction in the frequency of long term physiotherapy leads to an increase of exacerbations, prescriptions of medication and hospital admissions in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

Intervention

296 adults with severe COPD (GOLD III & IV) followed a weekly physiotherapy program with a focus on endurance capacity, muscle function and education. In this study, participants were divided into two groups: a High-Frequency Group (HFG) and a Low Frequency Group (LFG).

Results

The HFG had consistent lower rates of exacerbations (LFG x̄ 4.14; HFG x̄ 2.71), prescriptions antibiotics LFG x̄ 28.63; HFG x̄ 12.64), number of hospital admissions (LFG x̄ 1.22; HFG x̄ 0.36) and days in hospital (LFG x̄ 8.85; HFG x̄ 1.36) compared to LFG. Differences between both groups (Independent samples T-test, p < 0.05) were significant for exacerbations (p = 0.001), antibiotic prescriptions (p = 0.009), hospital admissions (p = 0.000) and days in hospital (p = 0.000).

Conclusion

Reducing the frequency of long-term physiotherapy leads to significantly higher rates of exacerbations, medication use, hospital admissions and days in hospital in patients with severe COPD.

Keywords:

• COPD
• physiotherapy
• pulmonary rehabilitation
• exacerbation
• COPD management

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Ethical approval

The Research Ethics Committee of the Radboud University Medical Centre declared (file number 2022-13467) that this study was carried out in accordance with the applicable legislation concerning reviewal by an accredited research ethics committee such as Medical Research involving Human Subjects Act and Medical Treatment Contracts Act.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).