Pulmonary Rehabilitation for Rural Patients With COPD

May 5, 2026 updated by: Roberto P. Benzo, Mayo Clinic

Decreasing Disparity in Lung Disease: Pulmonary Rehabilitation for Rural Patients With COPD

The purpose of this study is to test the uptake, effectiveness, and patient-caregiver-provider experience of a crucial treatment not provided in rural areas: pulmonary rehabilitation.

Study Overview

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

306

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 Contact

Study Locations

    • Arizona
      • Scottsdale, Arizona, United States, 85259
        • Recruiting
        • Mayo Clinic in Arizona
        • Contact:
          • Roberto P Benzo, M.D.
        • Principal Investigator:
          • Roberto P Benzo
    • Minnesota
      • Rochester, Minnesota, United States, 55905
        • Recruiting
        • Mayo Clinic in Rochester
        • Contact:
          • Teng Moua, M.D.
        • Principal Investigator:
          • Teng Moua, M.D.

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

  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Description

Inclusion Criteria

  • 40 years of age or older
  • Physician-diagnosed COPD
  • Living in a rural area defined by Rural-Urban Commuting Area Codes 4-10
  • mMRC score>=1
  • English Speaking

Exclusion Criteria

  • Inability to walk (orthopedic/neurologic/cardiac limitation causing immobility)
  • Cognitive impairment or inability to understand and follow instructions.
  • Patients with no COPD symptom burden, no breathlessness (mMRC score 0), as based on our previous studies they usually perceive no benefit from PR and do not have compliance with PR.
  • Traditional center-based PR was completed within 3 months of initial study recruitment.
  • Transition to hospice or end-of-life care at the time of screening.
  • Acute exacerbation at the time of screening.

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: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Treatment Group
Subjects randomized to the treatment arm will begin the home-based pulmonary rehabilitation intervention immediately.

Participants are expected to engage in the home-based pulmonary rehabilitation routine at least 24 minutes a day, five to six days a week for the entire 12-week study period.

The pulmonary rehabilitation routine begins with slow upper body and timed breathing exercises, followed by two slow balance walks for 6 minutes each. The total exercise time again is 24 minutes, followed by a 4-minute mindful breathing meditation/cool down

Experimental: Waitlist Control
Subjects randomized to the waitlist control (usual care) arm will be offered the home-based pulmonary rehabilitation intervention after completing the 12-week control period.

Participants are expected to engage in the home-based pulmonary rehabilitation routine at least 24 minutes a day, five to six days a week for the entire 12-week study period.

The pulmonary rehabilitation routine begins with slow upper body and timed breathing exercises, followed by two slow balance walks for 6 minutes each. The total exercise time again is 24 minutes, followed by a 4-minute mindful breathing meditation/cool down

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Change Chronic Respiratory Questionnaire Physical and Emotional (CRQ-SAS) summary scores
Time Frame: Baseline, 3 months

The Chronic Respiratory Disease Questionnaire is a 20 item questionnaire assessing the quality of life for patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

The CRQ covers four domains: dyspnea, fatigue, emotional function, and mastery. Questions are scored on a 7-point Likert scale, with 1 representing 'All of the time' and 7 representing 'None of the time'. Higher scores indicate better outcomes.

Baseline, 3 months

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Roberto Benzo, M.D., Mayo Clinic
  • Principal Investigator: Teng Moua, M.D., Mayo Clinic

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.

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 (Actual)

April 1, 2025

Primary Completion (Estimated)

August 31, 2029

Study Completion (Estimated)

August 31, 2029

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

February 21, 2025

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

February 21, 2025

First Posted (Actual)

February 26, 2025

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

May 7, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

May 5, 2026

Last Verified

May 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.

No

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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