Effect of home-based nursing pulmonary rehabilitation on patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: a randomised clinical trial

Fatigue is a common symptom of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and results in a reduction of daily activity and quality of life in patients with the disease. The authors aimed to identify the effect of home-based nursing pulmonary rehabilitation on fatigue, activities of daily living (ADL) and quality of life (QOL) in patients with COPD. A block randomisation method was used to randomise participants into case and control groups. Fatigue, ADL and QOL were assessed before and after the intervention in both groups. Independent and paired t-tests, chi-squared tests and covariance analysis were used to analysing data. Findings showed the significant decrease in the mean scores of fatigue (p<0.001) and significant improvement in mean scores of ADL (p<0.001) and QOL (p<0.001) after home-based nursing pulmonary rehabilitation in the case group. Home-based nursing pulmonary rehabilitation can be an effective, inexpensive and accessible programme for decreasing fatigue and improving ADL and QOL for patients with COPD.