Please select the eligibility criteria that correspond to the clinical trial below.
Title: Randomized Controlled Trial to Establish the (Cost-)Effectiveness of an Interdisciplinary Community-based COPD Management Program Relative to Usual Care.
Brief Summary: There is growing evidence that COPD is a multi-organ system disease. Besides impaired lung function, skeletal muscle weakness and weight loss are important determinants of impaired exercise performance, decreased quality of life and increased mortality. Based on earlier succesful intervention studies in pulmonary rehabilitation settings, Máxima Medical Centre developed an integrated, inter-disciplinary approach to the management of COPD including physical exercise, nutritional therapy, education, smoking cessation and psychological consultation. This COPD management program consists of a set of protocols that cover patient recruitment, diagnostic testing, treatment, follow-up and communication between professionals.

The exercise program and the nutitional therapy are carried out by local physiotherapists and dieticians working outside but in conjunction with the hospital. A program in such a setting could be substantially less expensive and certainly more easily accessible for many more patients than an inpatient or hospital-based outpatient rehabilitation program, as it is offered close to a patient's home. This study investigates the (cost-)effectiveness of the COPD management program compared to usual care in a randomized controlled trial.

Patients with moderate to severe COPD and a reduced exercise capacity during an incremental exercise test of less than 70% of predicted, are randomised to a treatment or a control group. The treatment group will participate in the COPD management program during the first 4 months after which they will be followed up for the remaining months. Both groups (n=100) are followed for 2 years and outcomes will be assessed at the beginning of the program, after 4, 12 and 24 months by disease-specific and generic measures of health status, body composition, skeletal muscle function and exercise capacity. A cost-effectiveness and cost-utility analysis with a two-year time horizon will be performed. The analysis is conducted from a societal perspectice, including the program costs and all COPD-related direct costs within and outside the healthcare sector ans costs of lost productivity.


Options:
A: Inclusion Criteria:

* Moderate to severe COPD according to the recent GOLD guidelines
* Reduced exercise capacity during an incremental exercise test of less than 70% of predicted normal values

Exclusion Criteria:

* Lack of motivation to participate in the treatment program
* Other pathologic conditions unabling participation in the training program (e.g. coronary, orthopaedic, neurological or severe endocrine disorders)
* participation in other pulmonary rehabilitation projects
B: Inclusion Criteria:

* diagnosed COPD by spirometry
* in treatment corresponding to GOLD-guidelines
* motivated for treatment of COPD
* COPD is the primary disease
* fixed residence and be affiliated to a general practitioner in North Denmark Region
* At least one of the following criteria should also be met: MRCm (modified) ≥ 2 or MRC ≥3, CAT ≥ 10, have had at least 2 exacerbations within the last 12 months

Exclusion Criteria:

* no phone line or GSM coverage
* unable to understand Danish sufficiently to complete study questionnaires
* have a cognitive impairment
C: Inclusion Criteria:

* post-bronchodilator forced expiratory volume in 1 second/forced vital capacity (FEV1/FVC) ratio \< 70%
* age \> 40 years
* complaints of chronic cough
* smoking history of more than 20 years or 15 pack-years
* diagnosis of COPD as major functionally limiting disease and
* current use of bronchodilator therapy.

Exclusion Criteria:

* primary diagnosis of asthma
* primary diagnosis of cardiac disease
* presence of disease that could either effect mortality or participation in the study (e.g. confusional states).
D: Inclusion Criteria:

* Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease
* Resting Dyspnea \> 2 OR Activity Dyspnea \> 4 in the prior 4 weeks to screening

Exclusion Criteria:

* Cognitive impairment on the 10-item Short Portable Mental Status Questionnaire
* History of serious psychiatric illness
* Unwilling or unable to participate in the full eight week program and evaluation

Answer: A