Effects of the Buteyko method in children with asthma and mouth breathing: randomized controlled trial.
Child, Asthma, Respiratory system, Breathing exercises, Sleep.
Introduction: Asthma is one of the most common chronic diseases in children, with significant morbidity and mortality in affected individuals. Mouth breathing is a breathing disorder also highly prevalent in children. Non pharmacologic therapy has been widely used in the search for alternative therapies in the treatment of this pathology, among them is the Buteyko method. Objective: To evaluate the effects of the Buteyko method as adjunctive therapy in the treatment of children with asthma mouth breathing. Methods: This is a controlled, randomized, single-blind where 35 children with asthma mild to moderate type, aged between 7 and 12 years old and diagnosis of mouth breathers were divided into 2 groups (Buteyko and control). All children underwent respiratory assessment in two stages: initial and final. anthropometric evaluations were performed, of sleep disorders through the Sleep Disturbance Scale for Children, pulmonary function (spirometry and ventilometry) and the reporting of symptoms (hospitalization and lack of schools). Children of the Buteyko group (20 children) conducted classroom training in Buteyko method the group twice a week for 3 weeks and weekly monitoring of symptom control was carried out in the presence days. A video with guidelines for the conduct of the Buteyko method daily at home was provided. The children in the control group (15 children) received education class and have weekly contact for symptom control report. Data were analyzed using the SPSS 20.0 software with 5% significance level. The normality of the data was verified by the Shapiro-Wilk test, Levene for homogeneity of variances and two-way ANOVA to verify intra and inter-group differences. The test t student unpaired was conducted to compare the variable height and the Mann-Whitney to compare the variables weight, age, percentiles and lack of schools among the groups. Fisher's exact test was used to compare the distribution of genders and classification of asthma and the chi-square test to compare the percentage of sleep disorders presented by children initially. Results: After training, the Buteyko group significantly improved the scores of the dimensions sleep-disordered breathing, waking disorders, sleep wake transition disorders, total score of sleep disorders, forced vital capacity (FVC), peak expiratory flow and forced expiratory flow between 25% and 75% of FVC (FEF25-75%). Compared to the control group in the final assessment, the Buteyko group also improved sleep wake transition disorders, total score of sleep, FEF25-75%, the ratio of forced expiratory volume in one second with FVC and the number of absences in school. Conclusion: The training with Buteyko method provided improvement in sleep disorders, lung function and reduce the number of absences in school children with asthma mouth breathing.