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Here's a brief summary of the Breathing Freely Study. You can find out more in the full research article, published in The Lancet Respiratory Medicine, here.
In the Breathe Study, patients were randomly allocated to either a digital (DVD plus booklet) or face-to-face physiotherapy program, or usual care.
- Both the digital (DVD plus booklet) and face-to-face physiotherapy programs improved patients’ asthma-related quality of life scores (over 12 months) compared with those receiving usual care, with improvements that are comparable to those achieved by increasing medication.
- The NHS healthcare costs were lower for both breathing retraining groups than for the usual care control group, and were lowest when access was provided digitally. Savings made by delivering the program in this way outweigh any technology provision costs.
- Neither of the breathing retraining interventions improved lung function or airway inflammation, suggesting they were not affecting the underlying biology of the disease.