Efficacy of a long-term pulmonary rehabilitation maintenance program for COPD patients in a real-life setting: a 5-year cohort study.

Background: Pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) improves exercise capacity, health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and dyspnea in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients. Maintenance programs can sustain the benefits for 12 to 24 months. Yet, the long-term effects (> 12 months) of pragmatic maintenance programs in real-life settings remain unknown.