Outcome measures
RPE, pulmonary diseases, dyspnea
SECONDARY, PULMONARY DISEASES
The primary outcomes were pO2 and pCO2 from VBG analysis. Arterial blood gas analysis was not selected to measure the O2 & CO2 pressures due to two reasons; first, patients in the intermediate care have not artery line and also blood sampling by syringe is a painful procedure; second, it has been shown that VBG analysis can be considered as an acceptable alternative for arterial blood gas analysis in patients with pulmonary diseases [The secondary outcomes included the level of dyspnea and RPE after 3MWT using Borg’s scale [