Do Exercises have a Complementary Effect Over Pharmacotherapy in Children with Allergic Asthma?

Abstract

Abstract Aim: To study whether the most frequently prescribed exercises have a complementary effect over that of the most frequently prescribed pharmacotherapy in children with allergic asthma, as there is no consensus on this question. Material and Methods: 24 children (age 9.56 ± 3.29 years) with allergic asthma were studied. They were randomly assigned into two groups of 12 children – “Standard group” and “Exercise group”. The “Standard group” was treated for 10 days with the most frequently prescribed pharmacotherapy (low daily doses of inhaled corticosteroids) without exercises. The “Exercise group” received the same treatment combined with the most frequently prescribed exercises (breathing retraining, respiratory muscle training and musculoskeletal flexibility with posture/balance training). Standard spirometry was performed at the beginning and at the end of the 10-day treatment. The best of 3 trials in each spirometry test was recorded. For comparability, the results were analysed as percentages of the actual versus the predicted spirometry values. Multiple variance analysis (MANOVA) with Bonferroni’s multiple comparison post-hoc tests were used for the statistical analysis. Results: At the end of the 10-day treatment course, the most frequently used spirometry parameters (“FEV1 % Act/Pred” and “FEV1/FVC % Act/Pred”) showed a statistically significant improvement in both groups versus at the beginning of the study (P<0.05). At the end of the 10-day treatment course, the same spirometry parameters showed a statistically significant improvement in the “exercise group” versus the “standard group” (P Conclusion: The most frequently prescribed exercises have a complementary effect over that of the most frequently prescribed pharmacotherapy in children with allergic asthma. Keywords Allergic asthma; Childhood; Complementary therapeutic effect; Exercises; Pharmacotherapy