Effect of a combined exercise program on physical fitness, lung function, and quality of life in patients with controlled asthma and exercise symptoms: A randomized controlled trial

Abstract

Background Asthmatic patients may benefit from exercise training, although the effects of a combined aerobic and resistance training program are still poorly investigated in children and adolescents. Objective To analyze the effects of a combined exercise training (resistance and aerobic) program on aerobic fitness, lung function, asthma control and quality of life in a group of mild‐moderate asthmatic children with exercise symptoms. Methods This was a 12‐week randomized controlled trial including children and adolescents diagnosed with mild‐moderate asthma and presenting exercise‐induced symptoms. The intervention group (IG) performed the exercise training (resistance and aerobic) 3 days/week, for 60 minutes. The control group (CG) followed routine clinical orientations. The main outcomes were cardiorespiratory fitness, muscle strength, lung function, quality of life, asthma control, and functional tests after 3 months of the intervention. Results Fifty‐three patients (IG = 25 and CG = 28) with a mean age of 11.5 ± 2.6 years were included. No significant differences were found between groups regarding lung function, asthma control, quality of life, and functional tests. Ventilatory equivalent for oxygen consumption at ventilatory threshold (P = .025; η p 2 = 0.083), peak oxygen consumption (P = .008; η p 2 = 0.116) and test duration (P = .014; η p 2 = 0.1) presented greater improvements in the IG. In addition, improvements were observed in leg press (P < .001; η p 2 = 0.36), hamstring curl (P = .001; η p 2 = 0.217), high row (P = .003; η p 2 = .167), low row (P = .009; η p 2 = 0.128) and quadriceps leg extension (P = .015; η p 2 = 0.108) in the IG. Conclusion Combined exercise training (resistance and aerobic) improved cardiorespiratory fitness and muscle strength in children and adolescents with controlled asthma and exercise symptoms.

Physical activity, lung function, and sleep outcomes in urban children with asthma

“…For example, if advised by their provider, pretreatment with bronchodilator before PA participation may be needed. Results from intervention research also support improved cardiorespiratory fitness and muscle strength in children and adolescents with controlled mild‐moderate asthma and exercise‐induced symptoms 40 . For individuals with asthma, PA training is a widely accepted adjunct to medication‐based and nonpharmacological treatment.…”

A Meta Analysis of Physical Exercise on Improving Lung Function and Quality of Life Among Asthma Patients

“…Scholar Sanz‐Santiago et al 26 adopted the 60min-resistance exercise test in studying patients’ quality of life score scale, and the result is not significantly heterogeneous with other studies, which may also indicate that exercise duration is not a factor causing heterogeneity. As shown in Figure 8 , FEV1 (%pred) lung function was significantly improved by Yoga and Tai Chi, which emphasized breath training.…”

Effects of exercise-based pulmonary rehabilitation on children with asthma：a systematic review and network meta-analysis

“…The characteristics of the 24 studies are summarized in Table 1 [15,17,18,21,23,25,26,28,29,[31][32][33]36,37] of endurance training, 2 studies [27,35] of interval training, and 1 study [24] of respiratory muscle training; (b) The treatment time of the study is different, ranging from the time of up to 4-52 weeks. Most frequent timings to begin intervention were 12 W (n=9) [16,18,23,25,27,29,33,34,37], 6 W(n=6) [15,21,22,28,32,36]; (c) Most of the studies treatments frequency are different, from 1 to 6 times per week. Most of the study treatment frequency were 3 times per week (n=12) [14][15][16][17]22,[25][26][27]29,32,36,37].…”

“…Most frequent timings to begin intervention were 12 W (n=9) [16,18,23,25,27,29,33,34,37], 6 W(n=6) [15,21,22,28,32,36]; (c) Most of the studies treatments frequency are different, from 1 to 6 times per week. Most of the study treatment frequency were 3 times per week (n=12) [14][15][16][17]22,[25][26][27]29,32,36,37]. 2 times per week (n=6) [20,21,23,30,31,34].…”