Pulmonary rehabilitation may modestly improve anxiety and depression in adults with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

Published on 23 July 2019

doi: 10.3310/signal-000794

Pulmonary rehabilitation for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) improves psychological symptoms modestly, compared with no intervention. Depression improves by about 2.5 points, and anxiety by 2.2 points on the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (range 0 to 21).

This review of 10 trials is the first to show that pulmonary rehabilitation – already known to improve quality of life and exercise capacity – may also improve anxiety and depression, which are common in people with COPD.