%0 Journal Article %A M L Duiverman %A J B Wempe %A G Bladder %A D F Jansen %A H A M Kerstjens %A J G Zijlstra %A P J Wijkstra %T Nocturnal non-invasive ventilation in addition to rehabilitation in hypercapnic patients with COPD %D 2008 %R 10.1136/thx.2008.099044 %J Thorax %P 1052-1057 %V 63 %N 12 %X Background: Long-term non-invasive positive pressure ventilation (NIPPV) might improve the outcomes of pulmonary rehabilitation in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) with chronic respiratory failure. A study was undertaken to investigate whether nocturnal NIPPV in addition to pulmonary rehabilitation improves health-related quality of life, functional status and gas exchange compared with pulmonary rehabilitation alone in patients with COPD with chronic hypercapnic respiratory failure.Methods: 72 patients with COPD were randomly assigned to nocturnal NIPPV in addition to rehabilitation (n = 37) or rehabilitation alone (n = 35). Outcome measures were assessed before and after the 3-month intervention period.Results: The Chronic Respiratory Questionnaire total score improved 15.1 points with NIPPV + rehabilitation compared with 8.7 points with rehabilitation alone. The difference of 7.5 points was not significant (p = 0.08). However, compared with rehabilitation alone, the difference in the fatigue domain was greater with NIPPV + rehabilitation (mean difference 3.3 points, p<0.01), as was the improvement in the Maugeri Respiratory Failure questionnaire total score (mean difference −10%, p<0.03) and its cognition domain (mean difference −22%, p<0.01). Furthermore, the addition of NIPPV improved daytime arterial carbon dioxide pressure (mean difference −0.3 kPa; p<0.01) and daily step count (mean difference 1269 steps/day, p<0.01). This was accompanied by an increased daytime minute ventilation (mean difference 1.4 l; p<0.001).Conclusion: Non-invasive ventilation augments the benefits of pulmonary rehabilitation in patients with COPD with chronic hypercapnic respiratory failure as it improves several measures of health-related quality of life, functional status and gas exchange.Trial registration number: NCT00135538. %U https://thorax.bmj.com/content/thoraxjnl/63/12/1052.full.pdf