ProKaSaRe Study Protocol: A Prospective Multicenter Study of Pulmonary Rehabilitation of Patients With Sarcoidosis

Background: Available data assessing the efficacy of pulmonary rehabilitation for patients with chronic sarcoidosis are scant; for Germany, there are none at all. Objective: To gain information about the benefit of in-house pulmonary rehabilitation for patients with chronic sarcoidosis and for the health care system, we intend to collect data in a prospective multicenter "real-life" cohort trial. Methods: ProKaSaRe (Prospektive Katamnesestudie Sarkoidose in der pneumologischen Rehabilitation) [Prospective Catamnesis Study of Sarcoidosis in Pulmonary Rehabilitation] will assess a multimodal 3-week inpatient pulmonary rehabilitation program for adult patients with chronic sarcoidosis over a 1-year follow-up time. Defined specific clinical measurements and tests will be performed at the beginning and the end of the rehabilitation. In addition, questionnaires concerning health-related quality of life and the patients' symptoms will be provided to all patients. Inclusion criteria will be referral to one of the 6 participating pulmonary rehabilitation clinics in Germany for sarcoidosis and age between 18 and 80 years. Patients will only be excluded for a lack of German language skills or the inability to understand and complete the study questionnaires. To rule out seasonal influences, the recruitment will take place over a period of 1 year. In total, at least 121 patients are planned to be included. A descriptive statistical analysis of the data will be performed, including multivariate analyses. The primary outcomes are specific health-related quality of life (St George's Respiratory Questionnaire) and exercise capacity (6-minute walk test). The secondary outcomes are several routine lung function and laboratory parameters, dyspnea scores and blood gas analysis at rest and during exercise, changes in fatigue, psychological burden, and generic health-related quality of life (36-item Short Form Health Survey). Results: Funding was obtained on October 12, 2010; enrollment began on January 15, 2011 and was completed by January 14, 2012. Results are anticipated late summer 2015. Conclusions: Due to the large number of participants, we expect to obtain representative findings concerning the effectiveness of pulmonary rehabilitation for patients with sarcoidosis and to provide a dataset of assessed objective and subjective short-and long-term changes due to pulmonary rehabilitation. The results should form the basis for the planning of a randomized controlled trial.