Effects of Diaphragmatic Breathing Exercise on the Degree of Breathlessness in Patients With Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

The present study aimed to determine the effect of diaphragmatic breathing exercises on the degree of breathlessness among patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) in West Java Province, Indonesia.

This was a quasi-experimental study with a pretest-posttest and no control group design. In total, 33 patients with COPD participated in this study using a consecutive sampling technique. The Modified Medical Research Council was used to measure the degree of breathlessness. A portable spirometer was used to assess Forced Expiratory Volume in one second (FEV1) and Forced Vital Capacity (FVC).

The Mean±SD age of the study subjects was 44.5±3.17 years; 54.4% of the study participants were male, with healthy a body mass index. Approximately 42.4% of the studied patients experienced the fourth degree of breathlessness before the intervention. There was a reduction in the Mean±SD score of breathlessness from 3.42±0.53 to 1.64±0.13 after the intervention (P=0.001). There were improvements in the breathing frequency (Mean±SD: 11.8±4.9 vs 9.5±1.6), oxygen saturation (93.39±3.20 vs 95.47±4.21), and FEV1/FVC (0.5±0.12 vs 0.3±0.45) in the study subjects.

It is expected for the hospital, educational institutions, nurses, and patients to be able to apply diaphragmatic breathing exercises as one form of nursing care measure. This is because it is proven effective to reduce the degree of breathlessness.