Formulating and testing a strategy for introducing Pulmonary Rehabilitation (PR) for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease management in a rural Indian setting

PR is proven to be the most effective strategy to improve shortness of breath, health status and exercise tolerance as well as reduce readmissions and mortality in recent exacerbations patients. There is no therapeutic or rehabilitative government health program for COPD management while in the private sector PR is often incompletely advised. Most of the PR centres are in the urban area and studies are rarely done in the rural population to understand the feasibility of PR. To further formulate and test a PR strategy, we aimed to assess the need for PR from the perspective of people with COPD and HCP in a rural Indian setting.