Even though it is well known that pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) improves exercise capacity, and the quality of life, in patients with chronic lung disease, not many patients can attend hospital based intensive PR in Korea. The purpose of this study was to develop a method for a home-based PR program, and study its effectiveness.

Twenty patients with chronic lung diseases were randomly divided into two groups : a home PR group comprising of 10 male patients, with a mean age of 70 years, and a control group comprisiong of 10 male patients, with a mean age of 65 years. We developed exercise programs, depending on the exercise capacity of each patient, which were easy to do at home. The PR program consisted of a 12 week period of enforced aerobic (mostly walking) and muscle strengthening exercises, as prescribed by the exercise specialist, in accordance with the functional capacity of the patient. In addition to the education, nutritional and psychiatric consultation was undertaken, and respiratory muscle training arranged. Patients visited hospital every 2 weeks for evaluation and exercise prescription.

All patients finished the 12 week course of therapy. Following the home PR, the endurance times and work capacity of the upper and lower extremities were significantly increased in the treatment group in comparison to the controls. The six minute working (Eds note : should) 'working' read "walking"?) distance was increased from 465±60m to 508±37m and the maximal inspiratory pressure from 72.8±27.2cmH₂O to 91.4±30.9 cmH₂O. The quality of life, as assessed by St Georges Respiratory Questionnaire (SGRQ), was also improved following PR. (Eds note : do you have figures for before and after, and a reference for the SGRQ? i.e. for the main paper.)

The home PR program we developed seemed to be applicable, and effective, to most of the patients with chronic lung diseases in the study.