Home-based deep breathing for depression in patients with coronary heart disease: A randomised controlled trial

Abstract Objectives The primary aim of this study was to examine the effect of a home-based deep-breathing training programme on depressive symptoms as compared with a control condition (i.e., weekly telephone support) in patients with coronary heart disease (CHD). Design This efficacy trial used a randomised controlled, parallel group design. Participants and methods A total of 62 CHD patients with a Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II) >10 were randomised to receive either home-based deep-breathing training (experimental group, n =28) or weekly telephone support (control group, n =34). Both participants and data assessors were blinded to the study hypothesis. The primary outcome measure was the change in the self-reported depressive symptom severity, measured by the BDI-II. The secondary outcome was the change in the Patient Health Questionnaure-9 (PHQ-9)-assessed depressive symptom severity. Depressive symptoms were assessed at baseline and post-test in both groups. For the experimental group, depressive symptoms were also assessed at the end of the first 2 weeks of training. Results The post-test BDI-II and PHQ-9 were significantly lower in the experimental group than in the control group ( p p p p =0.007). Examining the changes in BDI-II and PHQ-9 within the experimental group by the repeated-measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) revealed that both measures of depressive symptoms decreased significantly over time (both p Conclusions Home-based deep-breathing training is effective in reducing depressive symptoms as compared with telephone support in patients with CHD.