Systematic reviews of maintenance PR: summary of selective studies
| Study | No of trials | Review question | Results |
| Malaguti, 2021185 | 21 | Supervised maintenance programmes following pulmonary rehabilitation compared with usual care for COPD. | Supervised maintenance programmes not associated with increased adverse events, may improve health-related quality of life, and could improve exercise capacity at 6–12 months. Strength of evidence was limited (high risk of bias and small sample size). |
| Imamura, 2020186 | 7 | Long-term efficacy of pulmonary rehabilitation with home-based or low frequent maintenance programmes in COPD patients compared with those who had no maintenance programme. | PR with maintenance significantly improved 6MWT, but not HRQOL was observed. |
| Jenkins, 2018187 | 8 | Efficacy of supervised maintenance exercise programmes following pulmonary rehabilitation compared with usual care on healthcare use. | Supervised maintenance exercise led to clinically important reduction in the rate of respiratory-cause hospital, overall risk of an exacerbation and mortality). |
| Busby, 2014188 | 8 | Review of existing maintenance interventions following pulmonary rehabilitation | Most studies showed initial positive intervention effects, which declined to non-significance within 3–12 months after completion of maintenance. |
COPD, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; HRQOL, health-related quality of life; 6MWT, 6 min walk tests; PR, pulmonary rehabilitation.