Impact of pulmonary rehabilitation on cough and sputum symptom perception in patients with COPD.

Background: Treatments for COPD focus on inhaled therapies, which provide symptomatic relief, however without significantly altering the inflammatory disease' profile or its natural history. Pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) is one of a few cost-effective interventions which has been shown to improve outcomes. However, the impact of exercise on specific symptoms has not been properly explored in COPD. Objective: The study aimed to observe the impact of PR on local airways symptoms such as cough and sputum production. Methods: Airways - related subcategories of the CAT score were analysed pre and post PR completion. We included patients with GOLD grade II/III and CAT >10. We excluded patients with other respiratory conditions, those on oxygen and/or who interrupted PR. Results: 55 COPD (45% male), mean age 68.6 ± 9.96, BMI 26.49 ± 5.79 kg/m2.Results shown improvement in cough (p=0.0003) and sputum (p=0.004) symptoms perception after PR completion.