Respiratory Rehabilitation and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease: An Exploratory Review

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is one of the few major causesof death whose prevalence is continuing to rise in the world. Pulmonaryrehabilitation (PR), as a component of the treatment protocol, should beconsidered for all patients with chronic respiratory disease who have persistentsymptoms. The purpose of the study was to investigate PR in patients withCOPD, following six questions including comprehensive definition, nature'smechanism, commencing indication, advantages and disadvantages,comprehensive dimensions, and the cornerstone dimension of PR. TheUniversity of York Center for Reviewers and Dissemination Guidanceapproach was used for searching seven databases (Science Direct, Ovid,Cochrane, Ebsco Host, Scopus, Pub Med, and SID) with nineteen keywordsand different combinations of aforesaid nineteen keywords from the year 1985to the January 2015. Thirty full texts met the inclusion criteria and wereanalyzed for responding to the six research questions. The results showed thatPR consists of exercise training, education, nutritional intervention, support inself-management behaviors, and psychosocial support. The extensive review ofthe literature indicated exercise training is the cornerstone of PR, but the studyalso corroborated that psychological aspect of the patients with COPD is themost important and the first dimension in PR. Furthermore, before thecommencing any education, the patients with COPD in any stages, must havean effective and useful psychological support for ameliorating and improvingthe applicability of the PR.

Respiratory Rehabilitation and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease: An Exploratory Review Keywords:

Pulmonary rehabilitation , Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease , Exploratory Review