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CompletedNCT04279730PROMODUpdated Nov 14, 2023

Fatigue and Physical Performance During Pulmonary Rehabilitation

An observational study in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, sponsored by 5 Santé. Completed at 3 sites in France. Open to participants aged 40 Years to 80 Years. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2023-11-14.

Sponsored by 5 Santé · Observational

Study type
Observational
Model
Cohort
Time perspective
Prospective
Enrollment
96
Ages
40 Years to 80 Years
Sex
All
01

Study summary

Patients with COPD benefit from pulmonary rehabilitation (PR), but a ceiling effect of performance (ie. absence of additional exercise tolerance increase) is observed in 80% of patients from only 20 sessions. An imbalance between intensity, duration and frequency of PR sessions, leading to fatigue development in the course of the PR, could explain this ceiling effect. However, previous studies having evaluated the impact of a PR program on fatigue scores reported either a decrease or no changing, but never an increase. To date, no study has evaluated intermediate variations of fatigue score during a PR program, but were limited to a pre-post PR assessment. Therefore, fatigue fluctuations during PR are unknown. Furthermore, most studies had only unidimensional fatigue assessment. Since fatigue is a multifactorial and a multidimensional process, it cannot be accurately estimated through a unique assessment. Given that most of COPD patients do not increase their exercise tolerance from 20 PR sessions, the investigators hypothesize a significant increase of multidimensional fatigue score between the 1st and the 20th PR session during an inpatient rehabilitation program lasting 4 weeks (40 sessions).

Read the detailed description

Exercise tolerance is an important predictor of health status in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). A reduced 6-min walking distance is associated with an increased mortality risk in these patients. Pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) is one of the most efficient strategy to counterac this effect. Patients improving their exercise tolerance after a PR program have a reduced mortality risk. However, exercise tolerance improvement is not systematic after PR, since up to 1/3 of patients do not respond to the intervention. In addition, PR's effects are limited, with a ceiling effect of performance observed in 80% of patients from 20 sessions.

Fatigue could be one candidate to explain the ceiling effect of physical performance during PR. From a theoritical point of view, national and international guidelines on PR have continuously broadened PR interventions for the last 20 years, by progressively introducing in addition to endurance training, resistance training of the lower and then the upper limbs, electrical stimulation, stretching, respiratory muscle training... From a practical point of view, several patients complain of fatigue during PR. However, previous studies having evaluated the impact of a PR program on fatigue scores reported either a decrease or no changing, but never an increase. To date, no study has evaluated intermediate variations of fatigue score during a PR program, but were limited to a pre-post PR assessment. Therefore, fatigue fluctuations during PR are unknown. Furthermore, most studies had only unidimensional fatigue assessment. Since fatigue is a multifactorial and a multidimensional process, it cannot be accurately estimated through a unique assessment. Mutdimensional questionnaires and complementary indicators such as heart rate variability or visuomotor reaction time could be introduced.

Given that most of COPD patients do not increase their exercise tolerance from 20 PR sessions, the investigators hypothesize a significant increase of multidimensional fatigue score between the 1st and the 20th PR session during an inpatient rehabilitation program lasting 4 weeks (40 sessions).

02

Conditions studied

  • Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease
03

In context

Lung Diseases, Obstructive

2,591 studies on the registry are indexed under Lung Diseases, Obstructive; 198 are open to participants now.

This study's enrollment of 96 is below the median of 150 across 638 observational studies indexed under Lung Diseases, Obstructive.

Browse Lung Diseases, Obstructive studies →

Lead sponsor

5 Santé is the lead sponsor of 13 studies on the registry; none are open to participants now.

Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
40 Years to 80 Years
Sexes eligible
All
Sampling method
Probability sample

Study population

Patients admited for an inpatient PR program at one of the three following pulmonary rehabilitation center will be consecutively recruiting:

  • Clinique du Souffle La Vallonie (Lodève, France)
  • Clinique du Souffle La Solane (Osseja, France)
  • Clinique du Souffle Les Clarines (Riom-es-Montagnes, France)

Inclusion criteria

  • Patients admited for a 4-weeks inpatient pulmonary rehabilitation program
  • With a confirmed diagnosis of COPD

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Severe or unstable heart disease
  • Orthopedic, neurologic or psychatric comorbities
  • Recent exacerbation (\<4 weeks)
05

Study design

Observational model
Cohort
Time perspective
Prospective
Enrollment
96 participants (actual)
Patient registry
No

Groups and cohorts

  • Inpatient pulmonary rehabilitation

    Multidisciplinary inpatient pulmonary rehabilitation program lasting 4 weeks (40 sessions, 2 sessions per day, 5 days per week).

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Multidimensional fatigue score

    Change in total fatigue score measured with the MFI-20 questionnaire

    Time frame: Baseline (T0), 1st week (T1), 2nd week (T2), 3rd week (T3) and 4th week (T4) of the PR program

Secondary outcomes

  1. 6-min walking distance

    Change in walking distance during a 6-min period over a corridor of 30m length

    Time frame: Baseline (T0), 1st week (T1), 2nd week (T2), 3rd week (T3) and 4th week (T4) of the PR program

  2. Heart rate variability

    Change in SDNN and RMSSD indices of RR intervals during a 5-min resting period and at exercise during a 6-min walking test

    Time frame: Baseline (T0), 1st week (T1), 2nd week (T2), 3rd week (T3) and 4th week (T4) of the PR program

  3. Visuomotor reaction time

    Change in the mean of 15 reaction time in response to visual stimuli

    Time frame: Baseline (T0), 1st week (T1), 2nd week (T2), 3rd week (T3) and 4th week (T4) of the PR program

  4. Correlation between fatigue and physical performance

    Change in the strength of the correlation between indicators of fatigue (muldimensional score, heart rate variability, visuomotor reaction time) and 6-min walking distance

    Time frame: Baseline (T0), 1st week (T1), 2nd week (T2), 3rd week (T3) and 4th week (T4) of the PR program

Other outcomes

  1. Physical activity

    Measurement of physical activity via a triaxial accelerometer

    Time frame: During the 4 weeks of the PR program (continuous measurement)

  2. Daily subjective fatigue

    Fatigue evaluated by the patient every morning with a visual analogic scale

    Time frame: Every morning of the 4 weeks PR program

07

Study locations

3 sites
  • Clinique du Souffle La Vallonie
    Lodeve, 34700, France
  • Clinique du Souffle La Solane
    Osséja, 66340, France
  • Clinique du Souffle Les Clarines
    Riom-es-Montagnes, 15400, France
08

References and documents

Publications

  • Alexandre F, Molinier V, Hognon L, Charbonnel L, Calvat A, Castanyer A, Henry T, Marcenac A, Jollive M, Vernet A, Oliver N, Heraud N. Time-Course of Changes in Multidimensional Fatigue and Functional Exercise Capacity and Their Associations during a Short Inpatient Pulmonary Rehabilitation Program. COPD. 2023 Dec;20(1):55-63. doi: 10.1080/15412555.2022.2164261. PubMed 36655947 ↗
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Updates

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Nov 14, 2023, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
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Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT04279730
Lead sponsor
5 Santé
Collaborators
Ministry of Health, France
Responsible party
Sponsor
First posted
Feb 21, 2020
Start date
Feb 15, 2020
Primary completion
Mar 13, 2021
Completion
Apr 9, 2021
Last update
Nov 14, 2023

Study contacts

Nelly Heraud, PhD
study director · Direction de la recherche et de l'innovation Santé, GCS CIPS, Korian, France

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
No
FDA-regulated drug
No
FDA-regulated device
No
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

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This study is completed, as verified in Nov 2023. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.

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