Effect of IMT in Patients After Acute Exacerbations of COPD

Summary

The goal of this clinical trial is to test whether home-based inspiratory muscle training can reduce hospital readmissions and death in patients recovering from a severe acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (AECOPD).

The main questions this study aims to answer are:

Does adding home-based inspiratory muscle training to usual care lower the risk of all-cause hospital readmission or death within 180 days after discharge? Does inspiratory muscle training improve respiratory muscle strength, symptoms of dyspnea, quality of life, and functional capacity compared to usual care?

Researchers will compare patients randomized to:

Intervention group: Home-based inspiratory muscle training plus usual care Control group: Usual care only

to see if inspiratory muscle training leads to fewer readmissions and deaths, and better patient-reported and physiological outcomes.

Participants will:

Be hospitalized for ≥3 days due to AECOPD, age ≥35 years, able to consent, and own a compatible smartphone.

In the intervention group, receives usual care and additionally inspiratory muscle training:

Inspiratory muscle training twice daily for 90 days, then once daily up to day 180, with remote telemonitoring via a smartphone app and online supervised sessions.

The control group will continue with usual care (pharmacological treatment, smoking cessation advice, vaccinations, and referral to pulmonary rehabilitation if available).

Follow-up assessments will include hospital readmissions, survival, and quality of life questionnaires up to 12 months after discharge.

Conditions

• Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Diseases
• COPD
• Symptom Exacerbation

Interventions

OTHER

Training

home-based inspiratory muscle training (IMT) will be delivered using a portable IMT device connected via Bluetooth to a smartphone application that provides real-time feedback, adherence monitoring, and telemonitoring by the study team. Patients will train for 365 days following hospital discharge due to an acute exacerbation of COPD: * Intensive phase (Day 0-90): 2 daily sessions, each consisting of 30 breaths against an inspiratory load set by thetelemonitor, with regular online supervised IMT sessions, 7 sessions in total * Maintenance phase (Day 91-180): One daily session of 30 breaths, with sporadic online supervised IMT sessions, 2 sessions in total. * Follow-up phase (Day 181-365): Participants may continue IMT unsupervised. Supervision includes both in-person sessions at hospital visits and online sessions with telemonitors.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Hopitaux Iris Sud

  collaborator UNKNOWN

• Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Saint Pierre

  collaborator OTHER

• Onze Lieve Vrouw Hospital

  collaborator OTHER

• AZ Delta

  collaborator OTHER

• University Hospital, Antwerp

  collaborator OTHER

• Algemeen Ziekenhuis Maria Middelares

  collaborator OTHER

• Grand Hôpital de Charleroi

  collaborator OTHER

• Centre Hospitalier Universitaire UCLouvain Namur

  collaborator OTHER

• Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Liege

  collaborator OTHER

• General Hospital Groeninge

  collaborator OTHER

• University Hospital, Ghent

  collaborator OTHER

• KU Leuven

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Daniel Langer, PhD · KU Leuven

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

NONE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

35 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2026-01-06

Primary Completion

2028-06-30

Completion

2029-02-28

Countries

• Belgium

Study Locations