Lung Health News, Fall 2000 / Winter 2001
Every breath can be a struggle for people with lung disease, especially those with emphysema and chronic bronchitis, commonly referred to as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Shortness of breath seriously impacts their quality of life, which is why Margaret Nield, Ph.D., RN, is embarking on a study that will measure the effectiveness of certain breathing techniques for people with COPD.
"People with COPD are painfully aware of every breath they take," says Nield, who received a research grant in July from the American Lung Association to conduct the study. "Breathing techniques can offer some relief, but there is no scientific data supporting this."
Nield is a pulmonary nurse researcher and has seen firsthand the devastating toll lung disease takes on people's lives. Besides the emotional distress and discomfort, shortness of breath often keeps people with COPD from being able to perform normal activities such as bathing, dressing and walking. This can result in social isolation and a drastic reduction in quality of life.
The researcher, who is a faculty member at the University of California, Los Angeles, and the Veteran's Administration West Los Angeles Healthcare Center, will track 200 people with COPD for two years. They will be put into four different groups, three using different types of breathing techniques and one control group that doesn't use any.
One of the techniques is the traditional pursed-lips breathing, which involves breathing in and out slowly while pursing the lips. The other two use a hand-held device that the research subjects breathe into. The device can be set to create resistance when the subjects exhale or inhale, so one group will experience mild resistance when they exhale and the other will experience mild resistance when they inhale.
The study will help health professionals understand which techniques work best and why. It will measure how the research subjects fare in several areas when regularly using the techniques, including whether symptoms are reduced, quality of life is improved, how well they can function, and how often they need to access healthcare.
Breathing techniques have been taught to people with COPD for years to help them gain control of their breathing patterns. However, because no scientific data exits to prove the techniques work, Nield fears they are under-prescribed by medical professionals who have no data to support using them.
"I think breathing techniques are effective," says Nield. "But I would like to better understand how and get some science behind it."
