Influence of Pulmonary Rehabilitation on Clinical Characteristics in Patients with Chronic Heart Failure and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

Abstract Background: The improvement of treatment strategies in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and especially with comorbid pathology should provide rational conversion of standard schemes of therapy and rehabilitation in accordance with their clinical, pathogenic, functional and economic feasibility. Objective: To assess the influence of pulmonary rehabilitation on clinical characteristics in patients with chronic heart failure (CHF) and concomitant COPD. Methods: The study included 102 patients with CHF and concomitant COPD (males, 62%; mean age, 68.2 ± 4.5 years). All patients were divided into two groups: control group (CG) (n = 54), received only standard therapy of CHF and COPD; and intervention group (IG) (n = 48) were additionally taught the full yogic breathing as a program of pulmonary rehabilitation. Calculation of points by clinical evaluation scale (CES), assessment of CHF functional class (FC) (NYHA) and 6-minute walk test (6MWT - with the evaluation of dyspnea by the Borg scale) were performed in all patients on admission to the department and at discharge. Significant association was defined by p value