title: Pulmonary rehabilitation improves only some domains of health-related quality of life measured by the Short Form-36 questionnaire.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) has inconsistent effects on health-related quality of life (HRQL) in patients with chronic lung diseases. We evaluated the effect of PR on HRQL outcomes using the 36-item short form of the medical outcomes (SF-36).
  
  
  METHODS
  We retrospectively reviewed the files of all patients who completed PR in 2010, 2011, and first half of 2012. We collected information on demographics, symptoms, pulmonary function tests, 6-minute walk tests (6-MWT), and responses on the SF-36 survey, including the physical component score (PCS) and mental component score (MCS).
  
  
  RESULTS
  The study included 19 women and 22 men. The mean age was 69.8 ± 8.5 years. The diagnoses included chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD; n = 31), asthma (n = 3), interstitial lung disease (n = 5), and obstructive sleep apnea (OSA; n = 2). The mean forced expiratory volume-one second (FEV1) was 1.16 ± 0.52 L (against 60.5 ± 15.9% of predicted value). There was a significant improvement in 6-MWT (P < 0.0001). The PCS improved post-PR from 33.8 to 34.5 (P = 0.02); the MCS did not change.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These patients had low SF-36 scores compared to the general population; changes in scores after PR were low. These patients may need frequent HRQL assessment during rehabilitation, and PR programs should consider program modification in patients with small changes in mental health.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Texas Tech Health Sciences Center, Lubbock, Texas, US.
authors.forename: Chok
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Limsuwat
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Texas Tech Health Sciences Center, Lubbock, Texas, US.
authors.forename: Ryan
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: McClellan
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Texas Tech Health Sciences Center, Lubbock, Texas, US.
authors.forename: Hoda Mojazi
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Amiri
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Texas Tech Health Sciences Center, Lubbock, Texas, US.
authors.forename: Kenneth
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Nugent
keywords: Health-related quality of life; SF-36; Short Form-36; pulmonary rehabilitation