Harding A V, Maher K R
J Psychosom Res. 1982;26(4):447-54. doi: 10.1016/0022-3999(82)90020-4.
Twenty-four volunteers adolescent and adult asthmatics were pre-tested for suggestibility and retained for an investigation of the airway effects of biofeedback induced voluntary cardiac acceleration. Eight subjects were successful in achieving large magnitude voluntary cardiac acceleration after 2-5 training sessions. Eight matched control group subjects received one session of biofeedback assisted training in cardiac constancy. Results revealed that large magnitude heart rate increase was accompanied by a statistically significant increase in Peak Expiratory Flow Rate for experimental group subjects. Control group subjects showed a drop in heart rate and a statistically insignificant drop in PEFR. Clinical records for experimental and control group subjects during the pre- and post-training periods revealed that a significant reduction in the incidence of attacks, the use of p.r.n. medication, and the index of medication use per attack occurred in trained subjects. No change on any of these criteria occurred for control group subjects. The acquisition of the cardiac acceleration response of asthmatic experimental group subjects was compared with the acquisition rate of a matched group of normal subjects receiving one session of biofeedback training. No differences were revealed between the groups in the rate of acquisition. However, symptom-free asthmatics were shown to have PEFR readings significantly below those of the normal group, thus supporting previous findings. The possible implications of these findings for the clinical management of bronchial asthma, are discussed.
24名青少年和成年哮喘志愿者接受了易受暗示性的预测试，并被留下来调查生物反馈诱导的自主心脏加速对气道的影响。8名受试者在经过2至5次训练后成功实现了大幅度的自主心脏加速。8名匹配的对照组受试者接受了一次生物反馈辅助的心脏稳定性训练。结果显示，实验组受试者心率大幅增加的同时，呼气峰值流速也有统计学意义的显著增加。对照组受试者心率下降，呼气峰值流速下降，但无统计学意义。实验组和对照组受试者在训练前和训练后的临床记录显示，训练后的受试者发作次数、按需使用药物的情况以及每次发作的药物使用指数均显著降低。对照组受试者在这些指标上均无变化。将哮喘实验组受试者的心脏加速反应习得情况与一组接受一次生物反馈训练的匹配正常受试者的习得率进行了比较。两组在习得率上没有差异。然而，无症状哮喘患者的呼气峰值流速读数明显低于正常组，从而支持了先前的研究结果。本文讨论了这些发现对支气管哮喘临床管理的可能意义。
