Identifying candidates for pulmonary rehabilitation

Abstract

Pulmonary rehabilitation is an evidence-based treatment option for patients with respiratory disorders. The numbers needed to treat in order to have one successful participant on a particular outcome are estimated to be around three. Such low numbers are surely speaking for themselves in terms of the overall effectiveness of rehabilitation, but still a number of patients do not benefit from pulmonary rehabilitation, never start the program, or drop out. In this chapter, we will summarize the current state of the art in terms of patient selection for rehabilitation.