Disruption of Pathological Patterns in a Young Population with Dysfunctional Breathing

Abstract

Dysfunctional breathing (DB) is characterized by abnormal breathing patterns and often results from psychogenic causes in the absence of organic diseases. Although acupuncture and herbal treatments have been suggested as alternative therapies for DB, few studies have addressed the relationship between DB and pathological patterns from a diagnostic perspective. We asked 237 college students (130 men aged 21.4 ± 1.9 years; 107 women aged 21.4 ± 3.0 years) to complete the Korean version of the General Health Questionnaire-30 (K-GHQ-30) and four validated pathological pattern questionnaires regarding qi and yin deficiencies, phlegm, and cold-heat patterns. The Korean version of the Nijmegen Questionnaire was used to classify participants into DB and non-DB groups. Effects of age, gender, and DB on pathological patterns were examined using simple regression and two-way MANCOVA models. Age had an effect on all pattern scores except heat pattern scores (β: 0.154–0.098). DB group showed a moderate main effect (η2 = 0.167) on pathological patterns, while gender showed a minimal main effect (η2 = 0.096); qi and yin deficiencies, phlegm, and cold-heat pattern scores in DB and female groups were higher than those in non-DB and male groups. The K-GHQ-30 scores showed significant positive correlations with the pathological pattern scores (r: 0.243–0.533), indicating that disruption of pathological patterns could be associated with patients’ psychological disturbance. In conclusion, these questionnaires may help to identify pathological patterns related to DB and determine individually tailored alternative therapies.

Development of the Short-Form Yin Deficiency Scale Using Three Item Reduction Approaches

“…Rather, the "fatigue" factor scores of YDS had "strong" positive correlations with the scores of "neuropsychological," and "neurogastrointestinal" factors. Tis result may not guarantee the causality of YD-related fatigue with neuropsychological or neuro-gastrointestinal symptoms [13,20]. Correlations between the factor scores of the factor-based YDS and the KNQ suggest that fatigue due to YD needs to be monitored and treated more intensively than other etiological or symptomatic factors of YD in patients with dysfunctional breathing.…”

“…Regarding vocal quality, increased YDS scores were associated with decreased modulation of the fundamental frequency [12]. Te YDS scores for the young population with dysfunctional breathing (DB) were higher than those without DB [13]. Although the YDS has been broadly utilized to estimate the clinical severity of YD, it has 27 items, which may require response time and the ability to complete it [14].…”

“…Twelve Korean medical doctors with clinical experience, blinded to the YDS scores, determined the presence or absence of the YD pattern for each outpatient. Another dataset was collected from 237 college students (130 men aged 21.4 ± 1.9 years; 107 women aged 21.4 ± 3.0 years) who had no impediments to daily life caused by psychological or respiratory problems from January to April 2016, and they were asked to complete the KNQ, together with the 27-item YDS [13]. In the two datasets, the YDS items were rated on a 7-point Likert scale: 1 � disagree very strongly; 2 � disagree strongly; 3 � disagree; 4 � neither agree nor disagree; 5 � agree; 6 � agree strongly; 7 � agree very strongly.…”

Development of the 8-Item Phlegm Pattern Questionnaire (PPQ-8) Using Rasch Analysis

“…Furthermore, the vocal quality of normal subjects, especially decreased tremor-related parameters and increased resonance-related parameters, was found to be associated with increased PPQ scores [ 11 ]. Recently, a study reported higher PPQ scores in a dysfunctional breathing group than in a nondysfunctional breathing group, suggesting that the clinical severity of phlegm may be associated with the aggravation of dysfunctional breathing [ 12 ].…”