Background: The medico-economic impact of pulmonary rehabilitation in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is poorly documented.
Objective: To estimate the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of pulmonary rehabilitation in a hypothetical cohort of COPD patients.
Methods: We used a multi-state Markov model, adopting society's perspective. Simulated cohorts of French GOLD stage 2 to 4 COPD patients with and without pulmonary rehabilitation were compared in terms of life expectancy, quality-adjusted life years (QALY), disease-related costs, and the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER). Sensitivity analyses included variations of key model parameters.
Principal findings: At the horizon of a COPD patient's remaining lifetime, pulmonary rehabilitation would result in mean gain of 0.8 QALY, with an over disease-related costs of 14 102 € per patient. The ICER was 17 583 €/QALY. Sensitivity analysis showed that pulmonary rehabilitation was cost-effective in every scenario (ICER <50 000 €/QALY).
Conclusions: These results should provide a useful basis for COPD pulmonary rehabilitation programs.