Chest pains among chronic lung disease patients before and after a pulmonary rehabilitation programme; implementation in four countries on three continents

Abstract

Background: Pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) is a non-pharmaceutical intervention for people with chronic respiratory diseases (CRDs). No studies have looked at the effects of PR on chest pains in low-resource settings. Aims: This study aimed to assess whether PR had an effect on various respiratory symptoms among CRD patients in primary care in Greece and secondary care in Kyrgyzstan, Uganda and Vietnam. Methods: A six-week twice-weekly PR program was co-designed with local clinical staff and consisted of education and exercise sessions for strength and endurance. Inclusion criteria were a confirmed CRD diagnosis and MRC dyspnoea scale >=2. Besides conventional outcomes, chest pain, cough and haemoptysis were self-rated before and after PR. Results: A total of 113 patients had complete data collection: 42 in Uganda; 24 in Vietnam; 17 in Kyrgyzstan; and 30 in Greece. 39 had a primary diagnosis of chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder (COPD), 34 post-tuberculosis lung disorder (post-TB), 22 asthma and 18 other CRDs. Chest pains reduced significantly after PR for all diagnostic groups and overall from 68 (60%) to 17 (15%) reports (p Conclusions: In this implementation study, chest pains and cough were very prevalent in patients with COPD, post-TB, asthma and other CRDs. PR reduced chest pains, haemoptysis and to a lesser degree cough.