Background: Spirometry mandates the requirement of equipments and skilled technicians which may be difficult to acquire in resource limited situations. Thus simple alternative tests like Peak Expiratory Flow Rate (PEFR) and Single Breath Count (SBC) can be used to assess the pulmonary functioning of an individual.Methods: Hundred healthy participants of both genders between the age group of 18-50 years were recruited for this study. They were asked to perform PEFR using the Mini Wright Peak Flow Meter and SBC using a metronome. Three reading were noted and the best of three readings were used for analysis.Results: The mean age and BMI of the participants were 31.54±10.42 years and 23.88±5.14 kg/m2 respectively. The Spearman’s correlation coefficient of PEFR and SBC was 0.7048 with p<0.001 indicating a strong positive correlation.Conclusions: SBC can be used as a simple, convenient and cost-effective alternative to PEFR to assess pulmonary function in adults.
<p class="abstract">The global pandemic of the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has increasingly emerged as a multisystem infection with a wide spectrum of patient presentation, clinical severity and eventual outcomes. Physiotherapy treatment is pivotal to combat the consequences of the viral infection assisting timely functional recovery. Early intervention, routine assessments and tailormade rehabilitation programs aid in the comprehensive management of the patient and reduce further debilitating long COVID sequelae. This case report describes the course of a COVID-19 patient admitted in a COVID dedicated ICU, on immunosuppressive therapy and with multiple comorbidities, receiving daily physiotherapy treatment from admission to discharge. The change in the functional status was assessed using various outcome measures namely single breath count, breath holding time, Medical Research Council sum score, 30 sec sit to stand, timed up and go and 6 min walk test demonstrating a positive effect of physiotherapy interventions in facilitating recovery in the patient. </p>
Background: The novel Coronavirus is known to primarily affect the respiratory system and physiotherapy treatment is integral to combat this infection. However, the assessment of pulmonary function poses a difficult challenge considering the risk of spread of infection and sanitisation of the devices used. Single breath count (SBC) and breath holding time (BHT) can be thus adopted as bedside assessment tests for pulmonary function following physiotherapy treatment.Method: In this a retrospective observational study of 51 COVID-19 patients, mean age 51.7±14.56 years, on room air, admitted in the step-down units of a tertiary care hospital. Patients received standard physiotherapy treatment, within safe hemodynamic limits. Pre and post treatment session SBC was recorded in 32 patients and BHT in 19 patients. Three reading were noted and the best of three readings were used for analysis.Results: The paired t test was used to analyse SBC and BHT. Mean pre and post SBC was 18.25±8.96 and 23.31±9.96 respectively with a mean difference of 5.06 and p<0.0001. Mean pre and post BHT were 19.37 and 23.05 seconds respectively with a mean difference of 3.68 and p<0.0001. Statistically significant difference in the pre and post treatment session SBC and BHT was observed, indicating a positive effect of physiotherapy treatment on pulmonary function.Conclusion: Physiotherapy treatment shows significant improvement in the pulmonary function in COVID-19 patients. SBC and BHT tests can be used as assessment and prognostic tools for pulmonary function in COVID-19 patients.
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