PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Dympna Casey
AU  - Kathy Murphy
AU  - Declan Devane
AU  - Adeline Cooney
AU  - Bernard McCarthy
AU  - Lorraine Mee
AU  - John Newell
AU  - Eamon O'Shea
AU  - Carl Scarrott
AU  - Paddy Gillespie
AU  - Collette Kirwan
AU  - Andrew W Murphy
TI  - The effectiveness of a structured education pulmonary rehabilitation programme for improving the health status of people with moderate and severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in primary care: the PRINCE cluster randomised trial
AID  - 10.1136/thoraxjnl-2012-203103
DP  - 2013 Oct 01
TA  - Thorax
PG  - 922--928
VI  - 68
IP  - 10
4099  - http://thorax.bmj.com/content/68/10/922.short
4100  - http://thorax.bmj.com/content/68/10/922.full
SO  - Thorax2013 Oct 01; 68
AB  - Objective To evaluate the effectiveness of a structured education pulmonary rehabilitation programme on the health status of people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Design Two-arm, cluster randomised controlled trial. Setting 32 general practices in the Republic of Ireland. Participants 350 participants with a diagnosis of moderate or severe COPD. Intervention Experimental group received a structured education pulmonary rehabilitation programme, delivered by the practice nurse and physiotherapist. Control group received usual care. Main outcome measure Health status as measured by the Chronic Respiratory Questionnaire (CRQ) at baseline and at 12–14 weeks postcompletion of the programme. Results Participants allocated to the intervention group had statistically significant higher mean change total CRQ scores (adjusted mean difference (MD) 1.11, 95% CI 0.35 to 1.87). However, the CI does not exclude a smaller difference than the one that was prespecified as clinically important. Participants allocated to the intervention group also had statistically significant higher mean CRQ Dyspnoea scores after intervention (adjusted MD 0.49, 95% CI 0.20 to 0.78) and CRQ Physical scores (adjusted MD 0.37, 95% CI 0.14 to 0.60). However, CIs for both the CRQ Dyspnoea and CRQ Physical subscales do not exclude smaller differences as prespecified as clinically important. No other statistically significant differences between groups were seen. Conclusions A primary care based structured education pulmonary rehabilitation programme is feasible and may increase local accessibility to people with moderate and severe COPD. Trial registration ISRCTN52403063.