About the Authors

Heleen Demeyer

Affiliations KU Leuven-University of Leuven, Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, B-3000 Leuven, Belgium, University Hospitals Leuven, Department of Respiratory Diseases, B-3000 Leuven, Belgium, Center for research in environmental epidemiology (CREAL), Barcelona, Spain

Chris Burtin

Affiliations KU Leuven-University of Leuven, Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, B-3000 Leuven, Belgium, Rehabilitation Research Centre, Biomedical Research Institute, Faculty of Medicine and Life Sciences, Hasselt University, Diepenbeek, Belgium

Miek Hornikx

Affiliations KU Leuven-University of Leuven, Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, B-3000 Leuven, Belgium, University Hospitals Leuven, Department of Cardiovascular Sciences, B-3000 Leuven, Belgium

Carlos Augusto Camillo

Affiliations KU Leuven-University of Leuven, Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, B-3000 Leuven, Belgium, University Hospitals Leuven, Department of Respiratory Diseases, B-3000 Leuven, Belgium

Hans Van Remoortel

Affiliations KU Leuven-University of Leuven, Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, B-3000 Leuven, Belgium, University Hospitals Leuven, Department of Respiratory Diseases, B-3000 Leuven, Belgium, Red Cross Flanders, Centre for Evidence-Based Practice, Mechelen, Belgium

Daniel Langer

Affiliations KU Leuven-University of Leuven, Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, B-3000 Leuven, Belgium, University Hospitals Leuven, Department of Respiratory Diseases, B-3000 Leuven, Belgium

Wim Janssens

Affiliation University Hospitals Leuven, Department of Respiratory Diseases, B-3000 Leuven, Belgium

Thierry Troosters

thierry.troosters@med.kuleuven.be

Affiliations KU Leuven-University of Leuven, Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, B-3000 Leuven, Belgium, University Hospitals Leuven, Department of Respiratory Diseases, B-3000 Leuven, Belgium

Competing Interests

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: HD TT. Performed the experiments: HD CB MH HVR DL. Analyzed the data: HD TT. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: TT WJ. Wrote the paper: HD TT. Critically reviewed the manuscript: CB MH HVR DL WJ CAC. Took responsibility for the content of the manuscript and provided the study idea: TT.