Rehabilitación respiratoria en España. Encuesta SORECAR

Abstract

Introduction Respiratory rehabilitation (RR) is indicated in all chronic respiratory diseases with permanent symptoms and limitation of physical capacity in spite of adequate medical treatment. However, the introduction of RR units is scarce in Spain. The purpose of this study is to known the grade of introduction of respiratory rehabilitation programs in Spain, their characteristics and distribution. Material and methods A survey was designed to evaluate the number of centers who perform RR in Spain and their characteristics. The survey questions were closed and were classified into the following areas: data on identification and localization, existing material and human resources in the respiratory rehabilitation units, approach to respiratory rehabilitation in primary care. Results We received 66 surveys, which accounted for 15 regional communities. There are 31 RR units. Of these, most are within third level hospitals (74.2%), second level (19.4%), and the rest first level (6.5%). The coordination of these Units is carried out by the rehabilitation physician in 93.5%, rehabilitator + pneumologist in 6.5% and by the pneumologist in 3.2%. The mean number of patients/units treated per year is 647 (range, 40-2600), this counting both treated outpatient and inpatients. The number of patients treated as outpatients in the RR program is unknown. Conclusions Considering that the RR is the intervention that increases quality of life most together with smoking cessation and the optimization of medication treatment in COPD, we believe that the RR approach made in Spain is not sufficient.