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Yoga may be alternative to breathing exercises for patients with asthma

Yoga may not be a suitable intervention for patients with asthma, but it might be considered as an ancillary intervention or alternative to breathing exercises, according to meta-analysis data.

“There is evidence that yoga can improve asthma symptoms, asthma control and pulmonary function in patients with asthma, but this evidence might be biased,” Holger Cramer, PhD, director of yoga research, department of internal and integrative medicine at Kliniken Essen-Mitte, University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany, told Healio.com. “While yoga cannot yet be considered a routine intervention for asthma, it seems relatively safe and can be considered on an individual basis.”

 

Holger Cramer

Cramer and colleagues collected data from various medical databases and identified 14 randomized controlled trials with 824 patients relevant to their study.

Data indicated that yoga improved asthma control (RR=10.64; 95% CI, 1.98-57.19), plus standard mean differences in asthma symptoms (SMD=−0.37; 95% CI, −0.55 to −0.19), quality of life (SMD=0.86; 95% CI, 0.39-1.33), peak expiratory flow rate (SMD=0.49; 95% CI, 0.32-0.67), and ratio of FEV1 to forced vital capacity (SMD=0.5; 95% CI, 0.24-0.75), compared with usual care.

In addition, the effects of yoga compared with psychological interventions improved quality of life (SMD=0.61; 95% CI, 0.22-0.99) and peak expiratory flow rate (SMD=2.87; 95% CI, 0.14-5.6), according to data.

Researchers said there was no evidence of the positive effects of yoga on patient-reported outcomes and pulmonary function compared with usual care and psychological interventions, but not compared with breathing interventions or sham yoga interventions. Nonetheless, no adverse events were observed as a result of yoga, they concluded.

“Many asthma sufferers look to complementary therapies, such as yoga, to help them relieve their symptoms,” allergist Michael Foggs, MD, president of the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, said in a press release. “If yoga helps them to feel and breathe better, patients should by all means practice it. At the same time, we don’t advise that yoga be recommended to asthma sufferers as treatment.”

Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.