Pranayama (yogic breathing practices) in Parkinson's disease: protocol for a scoping review of literature

Parkinson's disease is a neurodegenerative disorder that presents with motor symptoms such as tremors, slowness and gait difficulties, in addition to various non-motor symptoms such as anxiety, depression and autonomic and sleep disturbances. Pranayama (yogic breathing practices) has been studied as a part of yoga interventions in Parkinson's disease. Previous systematic reviews and meta-analyses have not detailed the pranayama practices used in clinical studies, and there is no clarity on the pranayama practices that would be most beneficial for Parkinson's disease. This scoping review aims to map the available scientific evidence on the effect of pranayama interventions for Parkinson's disease and identify the potential gaps in the literature.

A literature search will be conducted in major databases (JBI evidence synthesis, MEDLINE, Cochrane Library, including Cochrane Complimentary Medicine, and Scopus) from 1990 to date. Relevant grey literature will be searched. Two independent reviewers will initially review the extracted articles and will be further adjudicated by two independent reviewers. Data management will be done using Rayyan software throughout the review. Data extracted will include specific details of the population, concept, context and study methods specific to the scoping review objectives. The extracted data will be presented in tabular/diagrammatic form, reporting on items aligning with the review objectives, such as details of the pranayama intervention and its clinical outcomes. A narrative summary will accompany the tabulated results, identifying the gaps in evidence and areas for future research.

Ethics approval is not required for this scoping review. The findings will be disseminated through publications in peer-reviewed journals and conference presentations.

Protocol Registration in Open Science Framework - https://osf.io/jdwga/?view_only=82aa5afd46974416a402fa1a0ac39fce.