The effect of Telerehabilitation and physiotherapy on improving the physical activity of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease(COPD): A systematic review

Background and Objective: Physical activity is a promising strategy to maintain the benefits gained after completing conventional pulmonary rehabilitation in people with COPD.Proponents of telerehabilitation and physiotherapy see the use of communication and information technologies as a way to increase access and increase care continuity. Therefore, the aim of this systematic review of randomized clinical and controlled trials to evaluate the effect of telerehabilitation on improving the physical activity of patients with COPD.Materials and Methods: A systematic review was conducted in randomized clinical and controlled trial studies without time limit by searching for keywords in the title, abstract and study keywords in the valid scientific databases Embase, Web of Science, Scopus, PubMed on October ۲۰, ۲۰۲۱. The quality of the studies was assessed using the JBI checklist; Studies with a score above ۷ were analyzed. This review was performed according to the guidelines of Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses.Results: A total of ۸۳ articles were identified after removing duplicates. After screening the full text of the articles, ۱۰ studies met the inclusion criteria. Studies were classified into two categories: randomized controlled trial (۶.۱۰, ۶۰%) and randomized clinical trial (۴.۱۰, ۴۰%). Input studies included ۹۷۹ participants. The duration of intervention in each study ranged from ۸ weeks to ۱۸ months. The technologies used included video conferencing (۱.۱۰, ۱۰%), Webbased platform (۱.۱۰, ۱۰%), mobile application (۱.۱۰, ۱۰%) and telephone calls (۶.۱۰, ۶۰%). In (۶.۱۰, ۶۰%) of the studies, telerehabilitation interventions had similar improvement in both control (face-to-face) and intervention (Telerehabilitation) groups. However, in (۴.۱۰, ۴۰%) of the studies, the intervention group reported a significant improvement compared to the control group.Conclusion: The results of our systematic review showed that although in the majority of studies, remote rehabilitation interventions and physiotherapy have the same results as traditional interventions. However, a well-designed telerehabilitation program to improve the physical activity of patients with COPD can complement or replace traditional rehabilitation programs and improve the patient's health.

Keywords:

Telerehabilitation , COPD , Physical Activity , Telephysiotherapy , Remote rehabilitation