Perspective of Pulmonary Rehabilitation Centers in Latin America

Pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) is a mandatory component of a comprehensive treatment of patients with chronic respiratory disease. However, there is no officially published data about PR Centers in Latin America. The objetive is to identify Latin American Pulmonary Rehabilitation Centers and evaluate their characteristics and organizational aspects. A cross-sectional study with the Pulmonary Rehabilitation Centers indicated by the Latin American Respiratory and Physiotherapy Societies and by our own personal survey among physicians and physiotherapists. An eletronic transmission questionnaire with 20 questions was sent to the Coordinator of each one of the Centers. 217 Pulmonary Rehabilitation Centers were found throughout Latin America and a total of 160 (73.7%) Centers answered the questionnaire. Of these, 65.8% had private administration; 68.8% had an associated program for patients with heart disease; programs lasted an average of 24 sessions; the rehabilitation team consisted mainly of physiotherapists, physicians and dietitians; 90.6% of the centers evaluated the patients with different questionnaires; 91.9% used treadmill and 90.6% bicycle for exercises of lower limbs and 80.1% proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation technique with weights to train the upper limbs of their patients; 55.6% had an educational program and 36.9% presented a home-based program. There has been a great increase in the number of Latin American Pulmonary Rehabilitation Centers, presenting diversity in organizational aspects.