Breathing exercises for children with asthma

Abstract

Background: Asthma is the most common chronic disease in childhood. Breathing exercise techniques have been widely used as a complementary therapy in the treatment of ashtm. Aim: To assess the effects of breathing exercises in children with asthma.

Methods: This is a Cochrane systematic review (Macêdo T.M.F. et al. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2014, Issue 3). Trials were searched for in the Cochrane Library, MEDLINE, EMBASE, PsycINFO, CINAHL and AMED. The types of studies were randomised controlled trials (RCTs) that compared breathing exercises in children with asthma with a control group receiving asthma education or alternatively with no active control group. Two review authors independently selected the studies, assessed trials quality and extracted data.

Results: Three RCTs involving 112 participants are included in the review. One study assessed quality of life and reported an improvement in this outcome. Two studies showed significant difference favouring breathing exercises. A reduction in medication usage was observed in two studies which favoured intervention group. A reduction in the number of acute exacerbations was also observed for one study. Two of three studies showed a significant difference for lung function, which favored breathing exercises. Due to substantial heterogeneity, meta-analysis was only possible for lung function. The risk of bias was overall assessed as uncertain.

Conclusion: Even though individual trials reported positive effects of breathing exercises, this review does not provide conclusive evidence to justify the use of breathing exercises for children with asthma. The number of included studies is small and they differed in their statistical presentation of data.