Evaluation of a chest rehabilitation project in Nepal using the St. George’s Respiratory Questionnaire and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Assessment Test

[Purpose] The incidence of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is rapidly increasing worldwide. In Nepal, it has the highest mortality rate among all noninfectious diseases. Since 2015, we have been involved in a project that aims to facilitate chest rehabilitation for patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in Nepal. We compared the Nepali version of the St. George’s Respiratory Questionnaire with the Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Assessment Test, the latter of which was translated into Nepali for this project. We also evaluated the extent to which patient quality of life improved after the rehabilitation program. [Participants and Methods] The Nepali St. George’s Respiratory Questionnaire and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Assessment Test were used to assess the health status of patients both before the intervention’s initiation and one year after it. Between May and September of 2016, 122 patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease participated in this program. [Results] We collected valid responses from 57 patients both before and after the intervention. The scores of both screening tools were significantly lower after the intervention than before and showed a significant correlation with one another. [Conclusion] These results suggest that the Nepali version of the Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Assessment Test is a reliable tool for the evaluation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and that the intervention used in the project might be effective for patients afflicted with the disease. However, there are limitations to the research design, such as the limited number of participants used in the study.