Pulmonary rehabilitation in post-tuberculosis lung disease: a systematic review
Frontiers in Medicine·
- DOI
- 10.3389/fmed.2026.1929171
- PMID
- —
- PMCID
- —
- OpenAlex
- W7203794706
- Study type
- Systematic review
- Publisher
- Frontiers Media SA
- Article type
- journal-article
- Integrity
- current
Why this research matters now
PR may represent a non-pharmacologic intervention that could improve functional outcomes and quality of life in the substantial population living with long-term respiratory sequelae of tuberculosis.
Structured evidence summary
Research question
The review mapped and synthesized evidence on pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) interventions for post-tuberculosis lung disease (PTLD), focusing on exercise capacity, quality of life, pulmonary function, and symptom outcomes.
Study design
A systematic review of 17 included studies (RCTs and observational designs) drawn from four databases covering 2000–2026, with screening of 1,085 records and removal of 163 duplicates.
Population and setting
Patients with post-tuberculosis lung disease, drawn from multiple countries; specific country breakdowns and clinical settings are not detailed in the supplied abstract.
Main findings
Across all included studies, PR was associated with improvements in exercise capacity, with 6-minute walk distance gains of 36–189 m. Quality of life improved, reflected in SGRQ reductions of up to 13 points and significant between-group differences in some studies. Symptom outcomes also improved, including reductions in dyspnea and chest pain from 44.8% to 24.1%. Pulmonary function findings were heterogeneous, with some studies showing FEV1 gains and others showing no significant change.
Public-health relevance
PR may represent a non-pharmacologic intervention that could improve functional outcomes and quality of life in the substantial population living with long-term respiratory sequelae of tuberculosis.
Important limitations
The review explicitly notes limitations in the underlying evidence base (heterogeneous pulmonary function results and mixed study designs) and calls for higher-quality trials to confirm efficacy and define optimal protocols. The supplied abstract lacks further methodological detail such as risk-of-bias assessment, search string specifics, and included country/site characteristics; the summary is therefore limited to the supplied single-article abstract/metadata and requires the original paper for decision-grade interpretation.
GIDS interpretation
This systematic review consolidates a broadly indexed body of literature on PR in PTLD within general pulmonary/tuberculosis treatment topics, making the evidence base relatively discoverable for clinicians and researchers; no connection to any live surveillance signal is established by the supplied abstract.
Related GIDS surveillance
Literature context does not validate, explain, or change a surveillance signal. Exact and contextual relationships are shown separately.
Evidence relationships
This article has 5 auditable classifier relationships to diseases, places, topics, and study design.