Abstract
BACKGROUND: Zheng's supine rehabilitation exercise (ZSRE) can be performed by elderly patients with the acute exacerbation of severe or extremely severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) with high safety and compliance and was helpful for their recovery. Investigation is warranted of the compliance and rehabilitation effects of ZSRE performed at home in patients with COPD. METHODS: We performed telephone interviews with 157 patients with COPD who were hospitalized on the 26th floor of the National Clinical Research Center for Respiratory Disease and who received COPD education and ZSRE training from 1 September 2015 to 31 August 2016. We retrospectively analyzed the patients' compliance with performing ZSRE at home after discharge and the frequency of hospitalization for treatment of acute exacerbation in both the previous and subsequent years. RESULTS: Among the 157 patients, 66 failed to complete home ZSRE after discharge (non-rehabilitation group), 41 performed home ZSRE once a day after discharge (one-session rehabilitation group), and 50 performed home ZSRE at least twice a day after discharge (multiple-session rehabilitation group). The home ZSRE compliance rate was 57.96% (91/157). There were no significant differences in the mean number of hospitalizations in the year prior to receiving COPD education and ZSRE training among the non-rehabilitation group (1.06±0.75), one-session rehabilitation group (1.27±0.78), and multiple-session rehabilitation group (1.16±0.91). However, there was a significant difference in the mean number of hospitalizations among the groups in the year following discharge (1.44±1.17, 0.78±0.82, and 0.66±0.75, respectively). The number of hospitalizations significantly increased in the non-rehabilitation group and significantly decreased in the one- and multiple-session rehabilitation groups. CONCLUSIONS: Home ZSRE can be performed with high compliance by elderly patients with severe or extremely severe COPD and can reduce the number of readmissions.