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Yoga Therapy as an Adjuvant in Management of Asthma

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Indian Journal of Pediatrics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Objective

To assess the effect of yoga on control of asthma in children with bronchial asthma.

Methods

This hospital-based interventional randomized controlled trial conducted in the Department of Pediatrics at a tertiary care center of North India from November 2017 to October 2018 enrolled 140 newly diagnosed cases of asthma of age 10–16 y who were randomly divided into two groups. Seventy children in the case group practiced yoga under supervision for a period of 3 mo in addition to pharmacological treatment. Seventy controls received only pharmacological treatment. Pulmonary-function tests were done at baseline, 6 wk, and 12 wk along with quality of life (QOL) assessment by Pediatric Asthma Quality of Life Questionnaire (PAQLQ). The outcome measures assessed were forced vital capacity (FVC), forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1), FEV1/FVC and peak expiratory flow rate (PEFR). QOL evaluation was done in 3 domains: activity limitation, symptoms, and emotional function.

Results

The asthmatic children practicing yoga have shown significant improvement in FVC, FEV1, FEV1/FVC and PEFR which was better as compared to controls. Improvement was also noted in mean-PAQLQ score in cases which was statistically significantly better as compared to controls.

Conclusion

Yoga appears to have significant positive effect on control of asthma measured by pulmonary-function test and QOL. Therefore yoga therapy can be recommended as an adjuvant in management of asthma along with standard pharmacological management.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pediatrics, SMS Medical College, Jaipur, Rajasthan, India

    Pallavi Yadav & Pankaj Kumar Jain

  2. Pulmonary Division, Department of Pediatrics, SMS Medical College, Jaipur, Rajasthan, 302004, India

    B. S. Sharma

  3. Department of Physiology, SMS Medical College, Jaipur, Rajasthan, India

    Meenakshi Sharma

Authors
  1. Pallavi Yadav
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  2. Pankaj Kumar Jain
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  3. B. S. Sharma
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  4. Meenakshi Sharma
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Contributions

BSS: Conceptualized and planned the study, finalized the paper and will act as Guarantor for this paper; PY: Assisted in planning the study and statistical analysis, evaluated the patients, carried out follow-up, assessed the outcomes and wrote the paper; PKJ: Assisted in planning, randomization, outcome assessment and data analysis; MS: Planned and supervised yoga therapy. All authors approved the final paper.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to B. S. Sharma.

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Yadav, P., Jain, P.K., Sharma, B.S. et al. Yoga Therapy as an Adjuvant in Management of Asthma. Indian J Pediatr 88, 1127–1134 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12098-021-03675-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12098-021-03675-y

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