A Review of Telerehabilitation in Interstitial Lung Disease

Interstitial lung disease leads to exertional oxygen desaturation, reduced exercise capacity, and chronic dyspnea that is associated with morbidity, mortality, and reduced quality of life. Pulmonary rehabilitation is a multidisciplinary, comprehensive intervention aimed at assisting patients with chronic respiratory diseases to improve exercise capacity, dyspnea, and quality of life in those living with ILD. The utilization of PR in patients with ILD is supported by current national guidelines. Nevertheless, PR remains an underutilized tool due to a lack of programs, costly, time-consuming travel, and low referral rates. Telerehabilitation is an emerging modality for delivering PR and potentially overcoming accessibility issues. The use of telerehabilitation has been well described in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in comparison to ILD. Our review demonstrates that telerehabilitation shows promising results for patients with ILD, but gaps in research, including the development of safe, feasible, and accessible protocols, warrant further study.