Attendance rate and perceived relevance related to type, content, and delivery of current rehabilitation programmes after surgical resection for non-small cell lung cancer.
Mette Kaasgaard, Uffe Bodtger, Anders Løkke and 2 others
PMID 39720625WHAT IT FOUND
Patients attending lung cancer rehab more often reported benefits, but attendance was linked to the programme's features, not its proven efficacy.
Disease-specific offers led by physiotherapists with exercise and progress testing had the highest uptake. This describes what patients valued, not what works.
Key findings
01High attendance was associated with disease-specific offers, physiotherapist delivery, and the inclusion of fitness and strength training.
02Only 23% of participants received a rehabilitation offer specifically targeted at lung cancer, with most receiving general cancer or mixed rehabilitation.
03Participants with high attendance reported more benefits, including improved fitness and less breathlessness, compared to those with low attendance or dropout.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for OTsWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
This was an observational study, so it can only show associations, not causation. High attendance may be linked to better outcomes because engaged patients do better, not because the programme features themselves caused the benefit. Data were entirely self-reported, which introduces the risk of recall bias and subjective interpretation of what constituted a 'high-quality' offer. The study was conducted in Denmark, where rehabilitation is provided in municipal primary care. These findings may not apply to healthcare systems with different funding or delivery models. Symptom burden was measured as 'mild' at the time of the interview, which may not reflect the acute post-surgical period when rehabilitation is most needed.
Declared interests
The authors declared financial support from several Danish health foundations and cancer societies, including the Novo Nordisk Foundation and the Danish Lung Foundation. There is no mention of commercial industry sponsorship for specific drugs or devices.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that disease-specific physiotherapy-led programmes are proven to be more effective. The study shows that patients attended and liked these programmes more, but it did not measure objective clinical outcomes like survival or functional capacity changes. The association between attendance and reported benefit does not prove that the programme features caused the benefit.