Home-monitoring and Adherence of Patients With COPD to Long-term Rehabilitation

April 14, 2015 updated by: Alda Sofia Pires de Dias Marques, Aveiro University

The Role of Home-monitoring in the Adherence of Patients With Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease to Long-term Rehabilitation

The aim of this randomized controlled trial is to investigate the effects of adding PA monitoring and regular feedback of a pedometer (step counter) to an outpatient pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) program on daily PA levels and health status of patients with COPD.

Patients will be randomized to either receive a PR program with PA monitoring and regular feedback of a pedometer (experimental group [EG]) or a PR program alone (control group [CG]). During the PR program, patients in the EG will receive a pedometer to self-monitor their PA and individualized step-count goals. They will continue to use the pedometers and receive individualized goals for 3 months after the program.

It is expected that, by receiving individualized goals and a simple pedometer to self-monitor their PA during and after a PR program, patients with COPD will become more active and adhere to long-term rehabilitation, thus reducing the overall impact of COPD.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) present lower levels of physical activity (PA), which have been associated with increased healthcare utilization and reduced survival. Thus, optimizing PA levels has become one therapeutic priority in COPD management.

Pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) is an effective intervention in reducing symptoms and improving patients' functional status and quality of life. However, its effects in increasing patients' physical activity (PA) levels are limited. Previous research has suggested that PR with continuous PA monitoring with feedback may be a suitable approach to increase and maintain patients' PA levels.

Patients who agree to participate will be randomized to either receive a PR program with PA monitoring and regular feedback of a pedometer (experimental group [EG]) or a PR program alone (control group [CG]). Both PR programs will last 12 weeks and consist of exercise training and psychoeducation sessions. During the PR program, patients in the EG will receive a pedometer to self-monitor their PA and individualized step-count goals. They will continue to use the pedometers and receive individualized goals for 3 months after the program.

The impact of the intervention will be explored using a mixed-methods approach.

Assessments will be conducted in both groups at 4 time points: before, immediately after, 3 and 6 months after the PR program. Physical activity levels, lung function, breathlessness, exercise tolerance, peripheral muscle strength, health-related quality of life and healthcare utilization will be assessed in both groups in these time points.

Descriptive statistics will be used to characterize the sample. To analyze changes in outcome measures, data from the two groups will be compared at each time point.

Patients in the EG will also be invited to attend focus groups after the intervention to assess their perspective about the intervention and their satisfaction with the use of the pedometer.

A sample size calculation using the primary outcome was performed based in a previous pilot study. It was found that 12 patients with COPD would be required in each group to provide 80% power (alpha = 0.05) to detect significant differences between groups. However, as PR programs usually have considerable dropouts (around 30%), 16 patients with COPD were recruited for each group.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

32

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • Portugal
      • Aveiro, Portugal, 3810-193
        • University of Aveiro

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • clinical diagnosis of COPD according to the Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) criteria
  • ≥ 18 years old
  • clinical stability for 1 month prior to the study (no hospital admissions or exacerbations)
  • able to provide their own informed consent

Exclusion Criteria:

  • inability to understand and co-operate
  • presence of severe psychiatric conditions
  • presence of severe neurologic/ musculoskeletal conditions and/or unstable cardiovascular disease
  • participation in regular strenuous exercise (e.g., greater than 10 hours per week of running, swimming, weightlifting or any other similar physical activity) prior to the study

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Supportive Care
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Single

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Active Comparator: Control group
Behavioral: Pulmonary rehabilitation (PR)
Patients will enrol in a 12-week PR program comprising exercise training (3 times per week) and psychoeducation sessions (once a week).
Experimental: Experimental group
Behavioral: Pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) plus PA monitoring and feedback from a pedometer
Patients will enrol in a 12-week PR program comprising exercise training (3 times per week) and psychoeducation sessions (once a week). Patients will also receive a pedometer to self-monitor their PA during and after the PR program and individualized step-count goals.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Change in physical activity levels
Time Frame: 1 week before, 1 week after, 3 and 6 months after the PR program
Physical activity data will be collected using a triaxial accelerometer. Number of steps per day and time spent in sedentary, light and moderate-to-vigorous intensity activities will be assessed. Time spent in different postures (i.e., standing, sitting and lying) will also be determined.
1 week before, 1 week after, 3 and 6 months after the PR program

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Change in exercise tolerance
Time Frame: 1 week before, 1 week after, 3 and 6 months after the PR program
Exercise tolerance will be assessed with the 6-minute walk test, following the American Thoracic Society guidelines. The maximal distance walked during 6 minutes and the associated respiratory symptoms will be collected.
1 week before, 1 week after, 3 and 6 months after the PR program
Change in peripheral muscle strength
Time Frame: 1 week before, 1 week after, 3 and 6 months after the PR program
Isometric muscle strength of the upper and lower limbs will be assessed with the 1 repetition maximum (1-RM), following the American College of Sports Medicine guidelines.
1 week before, 1 week after, 3 and 6 months after the PR program
Change in activities limitation resulting from breathlessness
Time Frame: 1 week before, 1 week after, 3 and 6 months after the PR program
The Modified British Medical Research Council questionnaire comprises five grades (statements) in a scale from 0 to 4, with higher grades indicating greater perceived respiratory limitation.
1 week before, 1 week after, 3 and 6 months after the PR program
Change in behavioral regulations in exercise
Time Frame: 1 week before, 1 week after, 3 and 6 months after the PR program
The Behavioural Regulation in Exercise Questionnaire-2 (BRES-2) is a 19-item instrument designed to measure different forms of motivation for physical exercise and includes 5 sub-scales.
1 week before, 1 week after, 3 and 6 months after the PR program
Change in general self-efficacy
Time Frame: 1 week before, 1 week after, 3 and 6 months after the PR program
The Self-Efficacy Scale is an instrument designed to measure general self-efficacy. Higher scores indicate higher self-efficacy.
1 week before, 1 week after, 3 and 6 months after the PR program
Change in health-related quality of life
Time Frame: 1 week before, 1 week after, 3 and 6 months after the PR program
The St. George's Respiratory Questionnaire (SGRQ) is a disease-specific instrument designed to measure quality of life in patients with chronic lung disease. It has 3 domains: symptoms, activities and impact. Higher scores indicate poorer quality of life.
1 week before, 1 week after, 3 and 6 months after the PR program
Patients' perspectives about the intervention (experimental group only)
Time Frame: Immediately after the intervention
Semi-structured focus group interviews will be conducted with patients to explore the impact of the intervention (i.e., Pulmonary rehabilitation plus PA monitoring and feedback from a pedometer).
Immediately after the intervention

Other Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Change in lung function
Time Frame: 1 week before, 1 week after, 3 and 6 months after the PR program
Lung function will be assessed with spirometry, according to the American Thoracic Society/European Respiratory Society guidelines.
1 week before, 1 week after, 3 and 6 months after the PR program
Change in the number and duration of respiratory exacerbations and hospitalizations
Time Frame: 1 week before, 1 week after, 3 and 6 months after the PR program
The number and duration of respiratory exacerbations and hospitalizations will be assessed during patients' interview.
1 week before, 1 week after, 3 and 6 months after the PR program

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Aveiro University

Collaborators

Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start

April 1, 2014

Primary Completion (Actual)

January 1, 2015

Study Completion (Actual)

January 1, 2015

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

April 23, 2014

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

April 23, 2014

First Posted (Estimate)

April 24, 2014

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimate)

April 15, 2015

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

April 14, 2015

Last Verified

January 1, 2015

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • SFRH/BD/81328/2011

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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