Joon Young Choi, Ki Uk Kim, Deog Kyeom Kim, Yu-Il Kim, Tae-Hyung Kim, Won-Yeon Lee, Seong Ju Park, Yong Bum Park, Jin Woo Song, Kyeong-Cheol Shin, Soo-Jung Um, Kwang Ha Yoo, Hyoung Kyu Yoon, Chang Youl Lee, Ho Sung Lee, Ah Young Leem, Won-Il Choi, Seong Yong Lim, Chin Kook Rhee
BACKGROUND: Poor uptake to pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) is still challenging around the world. There have been few nationwide studies investigating whether PR impacts patient outcomes in COPD. We investigated the change of annual PR implementation rate, medical costs, and COPD outcomes including exacerbation rates and mortality between 2015 and 2019. RESEARCH QUESTION: Does PR implementation improve outcomes in patients with COPD in terms of direct cost, exacerbation, and mortality? STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS: Data of patients with COPD extracted from a large Korean Health Insurance Review and Assessment service database (2015-2019) were analyzed to determine the trends of annual PR implementation rate and direct medical costs of PR...
February 2024: Chest