Late Breaking Abstract - An exercise program in primary care for patients after an AECOPD: a randomised controlled trial

<bold>Introduction:</bold> Starting pulmonary rehabilitation after an acute exacerbation of COPD(AECOPD) is recommended but uptake is low due to poor availability, lack of patient motivation and logistic complexity to join centre-based programs. <bold>Aim:</bold> To assess the short-term effects of a primary care based exercise program on quadriceps force(QF) in patients after an AECOPD. <bold>Methods:</bold> This multicentre RCT(<ext-link>NCT05233137</ext-link>) randomised patients after an AECOPD to the control(CG, physical activity telecoaching) or intervention group(IG, additional 8-week exercise program in primary care(18 sessions)). Effects on isometric QF and secondary outcomes were analysed using a linear mixed models, both for intention-to-treat(ITT) and per-protocol(PP) analysis. <bold>Results:</bold> 78 patients (68±8years, FEV₁ 45±17%pred, QF 110±44Nm) were randomised to the CG (n=39, 62% after hospitalisation, 6MWD 320±138m) or IG (n=39, 56% after hospitalisation, 6MWD 385±107m). The ITT analysis (n=71) showed no between-group difference in QF after 8 weeks (Δ5.93±4.03Nm, p=0.15), while the PP analysis (n=60) showed an increase in QF (Δ9.06±4.28Nm, p=0.04) in favour of the IG (Fig 1). The intervention effect was Δ12.48±6.93Nm (p=0.08) in hospitalised patients (n=33) and Δ5.84±4.30Nm (p=0.19) in non-hospitalised patients (n=27), in favour of the IG. <bold>Conclusion:</bold> An 8-week exercise program in primary care can improve QF compared to physical activity telecoaching alone, in adherent patients. <fig><object-id>erj;64/suppl_68/OA937/F1</object-id><object-id>F1</object-id><object-id>F1</object-id><graphic></graphic></fig>