Patient baseline characteristics
| Characteristic | |
|---|---|
| Sex, n | |
| Male | 11 |
| Female | 8 |
| Mean age (range), years | 67 (50–85) |
| Severity of COPD, n | |
| GOLD stage II | 6 |
| GOLD stage III | 10 |
| GOLD stage IV | 3 |
| Duration of symptoms, years 1 to ≥20 | |
| Home oxygen use, n | 4 |
| Previous attendance of pulmonary rehabilitation programme, n | 15 |
| Living set up, n | |
| Living with spouse/family | 11 |
| Living alone | 8 |
GOLD = Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease classification (http://www.goldcopd.org/).16