RT Journal Article SR Electronic T1 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 JF Thorax JO Thorax FD BMJ Publishing Group Ltd and British Thoracic Society SP 922 OP 928 DO 10.1136/thoraxjnl-2012-203103 VO 68 IS 10 A1 Dympna Casey A1 Kathy Murphy A1 Declan Devane A1 Adeline Cooney A1 Bernard McCarthy A1 Lorraine Mee A1 John Newell A1 Eamon O'Shea A1 Carl Scarrott A1 Paddy Gillespie A1 Collette Kirwan A1 Andrew W Murphy YR 2013 UL http://thorax.bmj.com/content/68/10/922.abstract 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.