Does pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) affect dysfunctional breathing (DB) in asthmatics

Background: DB in asthmatics is accompanied by insufficient asthma control (AC). The Nijmegen-Questionnaire (NQ) is used to quantify the extent of DB. Our analysis is part of EPRA-RCT, to demonstrate effects of PR on DB and evaluates correlations of NQ with AC, quality of life (QL), anxiety (A) and depression (D). Methods: NQ determined scores of 0-64, based on 16 items, >24 indicate relevant DB. NQ, AC (ACT), D (PHQ-9), A (GAD-7) and QL (AQLQ) was collected at 1month prior PR of IG (T0), end of PR (T2), 3 months thereafter (T3). With NQ scores of T2 and T3, Pearson correlation to T0 was calculated. Results: We included n=412 patients (m=57,5%,w=42,5%) with uncontrolled asthma (ACT 13,0 ±3,7). FEV1:81,2%pred.(±21,5),age 51 (±8,8). We observed medium to high Pearson correlations for ACT (0.43), AQLQ (0.63), GAD (0.79), PHQ (0.63), each on significant level (p Method: NQ is an indicator of DB and correlates significantly with QL, A, D and ACT. 3 months after PR, NQ scores improved significantly. Reducing DB contributes to the strong effects PR has on all the factors this study tested.