Asthma-Tailored Pulmonary Rehabilitation
Research type
Research Study
Full title
A feasibility study to inform the development of a multicentre randomised controlled trial of an asthma-tailored pulmonary rehabilitation programme versus usual care for individuals with severe asthma.
IRAS ID
127552
Contact name
Rachael Evans - 13.EM.0323 address all letters to CI incl. SA's
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Leicester
Research summary
About 1 in 10 people with asthma have difficult to control symptoms and are described as having severe asthma. They need more healthcare support than milder disease. We know regular physical activity has important health benefits, but many patients with severe asthma avoid exercise. GPs and nurses may also be worried that
exercise might worsen asthma symptoms.Physical training through short structured supervised programmes (“pulmonary rehabilitation [PR]”) leads to improved symptoms, quality of life and fitness in other chronic lung diseases. They are good value for money and lead to less healthcare use. However, few patients with severe asthma have access to such programmes internationally. We need to determine whether people with severe asthma benefit from a PR programme specifically for asthma. This would need a large randomised controlled trial (RCT). However, there are many questions that must be answered, before this trial can be done.
The aims of the proposed study are, in patients with severe asthma, to:
1) understand the facilitators and barriers to regular physical activity and exercise
2) understand healthcare professionals’ attitudes to exercise for this group
3) perform a small scale version of the eventual RCT to provide information on
a) recruitment rate, retention rate, adverse events, accessibility and acceptability of the Asthma Tailored (AT)-PR programme, to assess the feasibility of the proposed study protocol,
b) identify further barriers or facilitators to participation in an AT-PR programme.This project therefore has three stages:
1) a qualitative study involving semi-structured interviews will explore attitudes to exercise
2) a qualitative study involving focus groups of healthcare professionals’ will explore attitudes to exercise for severe asthma
3) a small scale feasibility study of an RCT of AT-PR versus usual care will be performed. A qualitative approach will be used to explore the facilitators and barriers to participation in a AT-PR and the study protocol.REC name
East Midlands - Leicester Central Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
13/EM/0323
Date of REC Opinion
17 Oct 2013
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion