PrimaryBreathe Feasibility Study
Research type
Research Study
Full title
PrimaryBreathe programme: feasibility of evaluating a primary care intervention for chronic breathlessness
IRAS ID
343818
Contact name
Anna Spathis
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Cambridge
ISRCTN Number
ISRCTN65179576
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 6 months, 2 days
Research summary
Breathlessness affects the daily lives of one in ten people with long-term health conditions, like lung or heart disease. Doctors and nurses often feel they cannot help when breathlessness persists despite treating the underlying condition. However, a few specialist teams have developed effective ways to support breathless people, for example with breathing or relaxation techniques. The treatment is safe and does not involve taking new medicine. This approach needs to be adapted so it can be accessed by more people through general practices.
The five-year PrimaryBreathe programme has already completed a co-design study, where patients, family or friend carers, general practice staff and researchers from Cambridge and Hull worked together to develop an acceptable primary care version of the treatment. We are now in a position to begin the Feasibility Study to find out how feasible it is to implement in primary care, and to work out the best approach to setting up the future main trial. This will be conducted across 6 general practices, with 60 patients in 2 regions of England.
In later studies in the programme, this breathlessness treatment will be formally tested in general practices across England to check that it does help patients and carers.
REC name
East Midlands - Leicester South Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
24/EM/0164
Date of REC Opinion
11 Sep 2024
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion