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Yoga Therapy as an Adjuvant in Management of Asthma
Pallavi Yadav1, Pankaj Kumar Jain1, B S Sharma2
1Department of Pediatrics, SMS Medical College, Jaipur, Rajasthan, India.
Insights
Yoga significantly improves asthma control in children. Practicing yoga alongside medication enhanced lung function and quality of life for pediatric asthma patients.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Pulmonology
- Integrative Medicine
- Respiratory Health
Background:
- Bronchial asthma is a chronic respiratory condition affecting children worldwide.
- Effective management strategies are crucial for improving lung function and quality of life.
- Adjuvant therapies are being explored to complement standard pharmacological treatments.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the impact of yoga on asthma control in children diagnosed with bronchial asthma.
- To assess yoga's effect on pulmonary function tests and quality of life.
Main Methods:
- A randomized controlled trial involving 140 children (aged 10-16) with newly diagnosed asthma.
- Participants were divided into two groups: one group practiced yoga for 3 months as an adjunct to pharmacological treatment, while the control group received only pharmacological treatment.
- Outcome measures included pulmonary function tests (FVC, FEV1, FEV1/FVC, PEFR) and quality of life assessment using the Pediatric Asthma Quality of Life Questionnaire (PAQLQ).
Main Results:
- Children practicing yoga demonstrated significant improvements in forced vital capacity (FVC), forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1), FEV1/FVC ratio, and peak expiratory flow rate (PEFR) compared to controls.
- The yoga group also showed a statistically significant improvement in mean PAQLQ scores, indicating enhanced quality of life.
Conclusions:
- Yoga therapy shows a significant positive effect on asthma control, as evidenced by improvements in pulmonary function and quality of life.
- Yoga can be recommended as a beneficial adjuvant therapy for managing childhood asthma in conjunction with standard pharmacological approaches.
Objective:
To assess the effect of yoga on control of asthma in children with bronchial asthma.
Methods:
This hospital-based interventional randomized controlled trial conducted in the Department of Pediatrics at a tertiary care center of North India from November 2017 to October 2018 enrolled 140 newly diagnosed cases of asthma of age 10-16 y who were randomly divided into two groups. Seventy children in the case group practiced yoga under supervision for a period of 3 mo in addition to pharmacological treatment. Seventy controls received only pharmacological treatment. Pulmonary-function tests were done at baseline, 6 wk, and 12 wk along with quality of life (QOL) assessment by Pediatric Asthma Quality of Life Questionnaire (PAQLQ). The outcome measures assessed were forced vital capacity (FVC), forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1), FEV1/FVC and peak expiratory flow rate (PEFR). QOL evaluation was done in 3 domains: activity limitation, symptoms, and emotional function.
Results:
The asthmatic children practicing yoga have shown significant improvement in FVC, FEV1, FEV1/FVC and PEFR which was better as compared to controls. Improvement was also noted in mean-PAQLQ score in cases which was statistically significantly better as compared to controls.
Conclusion:
Yoga appears to have significant positive effect on control of asthma measured by pulmonary-function test and QOL. Therefore yoga therapy can be recommended as an adjuvant in management of asthma along with standard pharmacological management.
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