Action Plan to Enhance Self-management and Early Detection of Exacerbations in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) Patients

Early detection of exacerbations by COPD patients initiating prompt interventions has shown to be clinically relevant. Until now, research failed to identify the effectiveness of a written individualized Action Plan (AP) to achieve this. The current multicenter, single-blind RCT with a follow-up period of 6 months, evaluates the hypothesis that individualized AP's reduce exacerbation recovery time. Patients are included from regular respiratory nurse visits and allocated to either usual care or an additional AP providing individualized treatment prescriptions (pharmaceutical and non-pharmaceutical) related to a colour coded symptom status (reinforcement at 1 and 4 months). Although usually not possible in self-management trials, we ensured blinding of patients, using a modified informed consent procedure in which patients give consent to postponed information. Exacerbations in both study arms are defined using the Anthonisen symptom diary-card algorithm. The Clinical COPD Questionnaire (CCQ) is assessed every 3-days. CCQ-recovery time of an exacerbation is our primary outcome. Additionally, healthcare utilisation, anxiety, depression, treatment delay, and self-efficacy are assessed at baseline, 6 and 12 months.

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).