Noninvasive Ventilation or Oxygen During Pulmonary Rehabilitation Exercise Training in COPD: What a Network Meta-Analysis Found

Physical therapists and physical therapist assistants who work with people who have COPD in outpatient pulmonary rehabilitation, hospital-based rehab, home health, or skilled nursing settings, along with clinicians who collaborate with respiratory therapy on exercise sessions.

Physical therapists and physical therapist assistants. Also relevant to occupational therapists, respiratory therapists, exercise physiologists, and rehabilitation nurses involved in pulmonary rehabilitation programs.

Intended audience

Physical Therapy

Level

Intermediate

Delivery format

Online, asynchronous, self-paced course: interactive reading with audio or video, and a scored post-test.

Based on

Chen X, Xu L, Li S, Yang C, Wu X, Feng M, Wu Y, Zhu J. Efficacy of respiratory support therapies during pulmonary rehabilitation exercise training in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients: a systematic review and network meta-analysis. BMC Med. 2024;22(1):389. doi:10.1186/s12916-024-03605-7. PMID: 39267046. PMCID: PMC11395947.

Protocol registered with PROSPERO (CRD42023491139).

This course reports what this single systematic review and network meta-analysis examined, what it found, and what its authors concluded. It does not add claims, figures, or recommendations from any other source.

After completing this course, you will be able to:

1. Name the six respiratory support approaches compared in this network meta-analysis and describe the population in which they were studied.
2. State which approach ranked highest for exercise capacity, breathlessness, and physiological response during pulmonary rehabilitation exercise training, and describe the direction of the findings for quality of life.
3. Explain the limits the authors placed on their own conclusions, including the certainty of the evidence and the questions they said remain unanswered.

1. Start Here: How This Course Works
2. Podcast Episode: Respiratory Support During Pulmonary Rehab (about nine minutes)
3. Why Exercise Training Stalls in Severe COPD
4. How the Review Was Built: 35 Trials and Six Support Options
5. What Improved: Walking Distance, Work Rate, Breathlessness, and Physiology
6. Where the Evidence Is Thin: Certainty, Bias, and Unanswered Questions
7. What This Could Mean in the Rehab Gym
8. Key Takeaways
9. Post-Test and Course Evaluation

Quinn Millington, PT, DPT, ECS is the instructor of record: the licensed clinician who reviewed this course and signed off on it. The name and credentials print on the certificate.

Disclosures. This course was developed by The ConEd Solution, which has a financial interest in its sale. No outside funding or sponsorship was received. The instructor of record has no affiliation with the authors of the source publication or their institutions.

This course awards 0.5 contact hours (30 min). How you earn them:

1. Complete the course. Every lesson, in order.
2. Pass the post-test. Score 80% or higher. Retakes are allowed.
3. Complete the evaluation. A short form rating each learning objective and the course.
4. Download your certificate. It is issued on completion and stays available in My Account.

The episode time is its measured length. Reading, post-test and evaluation times are estimates.

This course is designed to satisfy the quality requirements state boards set for continuing education. Requirements vary by state, and confirming that a course fits your renewal is up to you. Each state’s own acceptance statement is in the credit panel on this page.

1. Chen X, Xu L, Li S, Yang C, Wu X, Feng M, Wu Y, Zhu J. Efficacy of respiratory support therapies during pulmonary rehabilitation exercise training in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients: a systematic review and network meta-analysis. BMC Med. 2024;22(1):389. doi:10.1186/s12916-024-03605-7. PMID: 39267046. PMCID: PMC11395947.
2. Protocol registered with PROSPERO (CRD42023491139).
3. This course reports what this single systematic review and network meta-analysis examined, what it found, and what its authors concluded. It does not add claims, figures, or recommendations from any other source.