Home based Health Management of COPD Patients

DESCRIPTION provided by applicant Minnesota HealthSolutions Corporation MHS proposes to develop and evaluate a program to motivate and monitor people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease COPD to complete home exercise as part of pulmonary rehabilitation PR COPD is the fourth leading cause of death in the U S and a very significant cause of morbidity in the elderly which results in high health care demand PR is a supervised program for people with COPD and is considered an essential component of care Yet many people are unable to attend PR in a clinical setting The development of a system that safely allows PR in the patient home with proper monitoring and feedback will provide a significant advance in the health care of COPD patients COPD patients who exercise at even very low levels significantly lower their risk of hospital admission and mortality MHS successfully completed phase I of this project In phase II MHS plans to refine the design and evaluate it in a controlled human study at the Mayo Clinic to determine its effectiveness at improving quality of life and increasing daily steps PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE COPD is the fourth leading cause of death in the U S and a very significant cause of morbidity in the elderly Pulmonary rehabilitation PR is considered an essential component of care and has a demonstrated ability to improve quality of life but most people are unable to attend PR mainly due to distance and transportation MHS proposes to refine and evaluate a program to motivate and monitor people with COPD to safely complete PR in their home