Efficacy of <i>Yoga</i> on requirement of rescue inhaled medication in asthma patients

Abstract

Asthma is a disease characterized by recurrent attacks of breathlessness and wheezing, which vary in severity and frequency from person to person. The chronic inflammation causes an associated increase in airway hyper-responsiveness that leads to recurrent episodes of wheezing, breathlessness, chest tightness and coughing at night or in the early morning. The objective of this study is to evaluate the effect of <i>yoga</i> on rescue medication uses in asthma patients. A total of 300 subjects of mild to moderate persistent asthma (FEV₁&gt; 60%) aged between 12 to 60 yrs were recruited from the Department of Pulmonary Medicine, King George’s Medical University, UP, Lucknow, India. Their rescue medication use was assessed at baseline, then after 3-month and 6-month from baseline. 45 subjects were dropped out during the study period while 255 subjects completed the study successfully. Decrease in the rescue medication use was much less in the <i>yoga</i> group at 3^rd month while at the end of 6^th month the use of rescue medication decreased by 55.17 % in the <i>yoga </i>group as compared to control group. About 55% decrease was found in ‘the <i>yoga </i>group’ in rescue medication use which shows that <i>yoga</i> can be used as an adjuvant therapy with standard inhalation therapy and rescue medication use can be reduced.