Department of Neurology, Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, India.
Department of Anesthesia, Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, India.
Front Public Health. 2022 Sep 30;10:945988. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2022.945988. eCollection 2022.
Regulated breathing facilitates ventilation and reduces breathlessness. However, the effect of Yogic breathing on patients with COVID remains unclear. We aimed to evaluate the efficacy of two breathing protocols, i.e., short breathing technique (SBT) and long duration breathing technique (LBDT).
Three groups including COVID-positive patients, COVID-recovered patients, and healthcare workers (HCWs) were included in the study and segregated into Yoga and control groups. SBT was administered to COVID-positive patients. Both SBT and LBDT were administered to COVID-recovered patients and HCWs. A total of 18 biochemical parameters, a 6-min walk test (6MWT), and a 1-min sit-stand test (1MSST) were assessed on 0th, 7th, and 15th days, where biochemical parameters were the primary outcome. Pre-post estimation of neuropsychological parameters (nine questionnaires) and heart rate variability (HRV) were carried out. The paired -test or Wilcoxon rank test was applied for pre-post comparison and the Student's -test or Mann-Whitney test was used for group comparison. Repeated measures test was applied for data recorded at three time points.
A significant elevation in white blood cell (WBC) count was observed in COVID-positive intervention ( < 0.001) and control groups ( = 0.003), indicating no role of intervention on change in WBC number. WBC count ( = 0.002) and D-dimer ( = 0.002) significantly decreased in the COVID-recovered intervention group. D-dimer was also reduced in HCWs practicing Yogic breathing as compared to controls ( = 0.01). D-dimer was the primary outcome, which remained below 0.50 μg/ml (a cutoff value to define severity) in the COVID-positive yoga group (CYG) and decreased in the COVID-recovered yoga group (RYG) and the HCW yoga group (HYG) after intervention. A 6-min walk test (6MWT) showed an increase in distance covered among the COVID-positive patients ( = 0.01) and HCWs ( = 0.002) after intervention. The high-frequency power ( = 0.01) was found to be reduced in the COVID-positive intervention group. No significant change in neuropsychological parameters was observed.
Yogic breathing lowered D-dimer, which is helpful in reducing thrombosis and venous thromboembolism in patients with COVID-19 besides lowering the chances of vaccine-induced thrombotic thrombocytopenia in vaccinated individuals. The breathing intervention improved exercise capacity in mild to moderate cases of COVID-19. Further studies can show if such breathing techniques can influence immunity-related genes, as reported recently in a study. We suggest that Yogic breathing may be considered an integrative approach for the management of patients with COVID.
http://ctri.nic.in/Clinicaltrials/login.php, identifier: CTRI/2020/10/028195.
有规律的呼吸可以促进通气并减轻呼吸困难。然而，瑜伽呼吸对 COVID 患者的影响尚不清楚。我们旨在评估两种呼吸方案，即短呼吸技术（SBT）和长持续呼吸技术（LBDT）的疗效。
本研究纳入了 COVID 阳性患者、COVID 康复患者和医护人员（HCW）三组人群，并将其分为瑜伽组和对照组。COVID 阳性患者接受 SBT。COVID 康复患者和 HCW 接受 SBT 和 LBDT。在第 0、7 和 15 天评估了 18 项生化参数、6 分钟步行测试（6MWT）和 1 分钟坐立测试（1MSST），其中生化参数为主要结局。进行了神经心理学参数（9 个问卷）和心率变异性（HRV）的预-后评估。应用配对 t 检验或 Wilcoxon 秩和检验进行前后比较，应用学生 t 检验或 Mann-Whitney U 检验进行组间比较。对记录的三个时间点的数据应用重复测量检验。
COVID 阳性干预组（<0.001）和对照组（=0.003）的白细胞计数（WBC）显著升高，表明干预对 WBC 数量的变化没有作用。COVID 康复干预组的 WBC 计数（=0.002）和 D-二聚体（=0.002）显著降低。与对照组相比，瑜伽呼吸的 HCW 中 D-二聚体（=0.01）也有所降低。D-二聚体是主要结局，COVID 阳性瑜伽组（CYG）中的 D-二聚体在干预后仍保持在 0.50μg/ml（定义严重程度的截断值）以下，COVID 康复瑜伽组（RYG）和 HCW 瑜伽组（HYG）中的 D-二聚体也有所降低。COVID 阳性患者（=0.01）和 HCW（=0.002）的 6 分钟步行测试（6MWT）显示，干预后距离覆盖增加。COVID 阳性干预组的高频功率（=0.01）降低。神经心理学参数无明显变化。
瑜伽呼吸降低了 D-二聚体，这有助于降低 COVID-19 患者的血栓形成和静脉血栓栓塞风险，此外还降低了接种疫苗个体中疫苗诱导的血小板减少性血栓形成的风险。呼吸干预改善了 COVID-19 轻症至中度患者的运动能力。最近的一项研究报道，进一步的研究可以表明这种呼吸技术是否会影响与免疫相关的基因。我们建议瑜伽呼吸可以被视为 COVID 患者管理的一种综合方法。
http://ctri.nic.in/Clinicaltrials/login.php，标识符：CTRI/2020/10/028195。
