title: Telemonitoring of home exercise cycle training in patients with COPD.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Regular physical activity is associated with reduced mortality in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Interventions to reduce time spent in sedentary behavior could improve outcomes. The primary purpose was to investigate the impact of telemonitoring with supportive phone calls on daily exercise times with newly established home exercise bicycle training. The secondary aim was to examine the potential improvement in health-related quality of life and physical activity compared to baseline.
  
  
  METHODS
  This prospective crossover-randomized study was performed over 6 months in stable COPD patients. The intervention phase (domiciliary training with supporting telephone calls) and the control phase (training without phone calls) were randomly assigned to the first or the last 3 months. In the intervention phase, patients were called once a week if they did not achieve a real-time monitored daily cycle time of 20 minutes. Secondary aims were evaluated at baseline and after 3 and 6 months. Health-related quality of life was measured by the COPD Assessment Test (CAT), physical activity by the Godin Leisure Time Exercise Questionnaire (GLTEQ).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of the 53 included patients, 44 patients completed the study (forced expiratory volume in 1 second 47.5%±15.8% predicted). In the intervention phase, daily exercise time was significantly higher compared to the control phase (24.2±9.4 versus 19.6±10.3 minutes). Compared to baseline (17.6±6.1), the CAT-score improved in the intervention phase to 15.3±7.6 and in the control phase to 15.7±7.3 units. The GLTEQ-score increased from 12.2±12.1 points to 36.3±16.3 and 33.7±17.3.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Telemonitoring is a simple method to enhance home exercise training and physical activity, improving health-related quality of life.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pneumology and Critical Care Medicine, Helios Klinik Ambrock, Hagen; Witten/Herdecke University, Witten.
authors.forename: Karl-Josef
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Franke
authors.affiliation: Department of Pneumology and Critical Care Medicine, Helios Klinik Ambrock, Hagen.
authors.forename: Ulrike
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Domanski
authors.affiliation: Department of Pneumology and Critical Care Medicine, Helios Klinik Ambrock, Hagen.
authors.forename: Maik
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Schroeder
authors.affiliation: Lung Practice Jansen, Menden.
authors.forename: Volker
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Jansen
authors.affiliation: Aeroprax Wuppertal, Wuppertal.
authors.forename: Frank
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Artmann
authors.affiliation: Lung Practice Witten, Witten.
authors.forename: Uwe
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Weber
authors.affiliation: Lung Practice Ettler, Hagen, Germany.
authors.forename: Rainer
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ettler
authors.affiliation: Department of Pneumology and Critical Care Medicine, Helios Klinik Ambrock, Hagen; Witten/Herdecke University, Witten.
authors.forename: Georg
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Nilius
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001642:Bicycling; D018592:Cross-Over Studies; D005081:Exercise Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D017079:Exercise Tolerance; D005260:Female; D005541:Forced Expiratory Volume; D005858:Germany; D006699:Home Care Services; D006801:Humans; D008168:Lung / Q000503:physiopathology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010349:Patient Compliance; D011446:Prospective Studies; D029424:Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000628:therapy*; D011788:Quality of Life; D020127:Recovery of Function; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D017216:Telemedicine / Q000379:methods*; D013686:Telemetry; D013689:Telephone; D013997:Time Factors; D016896:Treatment Outcome
keywords: COPD assessment test; physical activity; telehealthcare; telephone support