Although drug therapies and pulmonary rehabilitation have greatly improved COPD symptoms, as many as 50% of patients with severe COPD have inadequately controlled dyspnea. Device-guided breathing is a behavioral intervention that guides respiratory rates into a therapeutic range; prolongation of the expiratory phase improves hyperinflation, the most significant driver of dyspnea in this population. Device-guided breathing, has no known side-effects, and may represent a cost effective adjunctive treatment for dyspnea in severe COPD.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
NON_RANDOMIZED
Purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
NONE
Enrollment
11
Participants are asked to use the slow-breathing device for 20 minutes twice daily, for 8 weeks. Participants receive weekly telephone calls to monitor device use and are encouraged to use pursed-lips when following the breathing tones of the device while exhaling.
Mayo Clinic in Rochester
Rochester, Minnesota, United States
Determine effect of increased device-guided breathing on health-related quality of life measures.
Pre and post device use measures of dyspnea, health-related quality of life, stress, adn self-efficacy for managing chronic disease will be obtained through self-administered questionnaires.
Time frame: 8 weeks
Evaluate effect of device-guided slow breathing on daily physical activity.
Evaluate the effect of a higher intensity of device-guided breathing (20 minutes twice daily for 8 weeks) on daily physical activity, as measured by a gold-standard activity monitor, before and after device use.
Time frame: 8 weeks
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