Journal of cardiopulmonary rehabilitation
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J Cardiopulm Rehabil · Jul 2000
Comparative StudyEffect of pulmonary rehabilitation on quality of life in patients with COPD: the use of SF-36 summary scores as outcomes measures.
Pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) is an accepted therapy for patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), improving both exercise capacity and quality of life (QOL). Generic measures of QOL have been criticized as being insensitive to detecting the improvement in QOL after PR in contrast to disease-specific instruments. The authors looked at the Medical Outcomes Survey Short Form 36-item questionnaire (SF-36), a generic QOL measure, to detect changes in QOL in COPD patients after completion of PR. ⋯ The SF-36 and its summary scores are sensitive instruments to detect improvement in QOL in COPD patients after PR.