Pulmonary rehabilitation compared with brief advice given for severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Purpose: The objective of this study was to compare the effectiveness of a short-term pulmonary rehabilitation program with brief advice given to patients with severe ventilatory impairment due to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

Methods: One hundred three patients with severe COPD, defined as having forced expiratory volume in 1 second < 40% predicted, were randomly assigned to rehabilitation or to brief advice. Fifty-four patients attended a rehabilitation program twice a week for 6 weeks.