The use of breathing patterns as a potential marker in asthma
Research type
Research Study
Full title
The use of breathing patterns as a potential marker for asthma in adults
IRAS ID
230295
Contact name
Panagiotis Sakkatos
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Southampton
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 5 months, 1 days
Research summary
Achieving asthma control is one of the primary goals of asthma management to improve and maintain patients’ quality of life (GINA 2016). There is currently no gold-standard method to measure asthma control. Frequency of asthma symptoms and medication usage can be collected via questionnaires to describe asthma control. However, such questionnaires are not ideal due to their reliance on patients' perception of their symptoms, which can be influenced by other problems such as anxiety. Objective physiological lung function measurements are also used to assess airway obstruction and lung health in clinical settings. Although decline of lung function can be associated with poor asthma control, patients with normal lung function measurements can still report frequent and persistent asthma symptoms. Therefore, new supplemental physiological measurements are needed to facilitate the monitoring process of asthma. Individual breathing patterns are the combined function of flow and volume components, timing parameters and the movement of the chest and abdominal area. Monitoring and analysis of changes in breathing patterns may provide additional information on asthma control. The primary aim of this cross-sectional study is to explore possible associations between breathing patterns and currently used objective and subjective asthma related outcomes. A heterogeneous sample of 200 adult patients with a clinical diagnosis of asthma, and with a range of asthma control and lung function measurements will be recruited. Breathing patterns will be recorded non-invasively within a single recording session (duration of session: 30-35 minutes) using Structured Light Plethysmography (SLP) - a contactless way of recording chest movements. Regression analysis will be used to explore associations between breathing pattern parameters and current markers of asthma control.
REC name
London - Queen Square Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
17/LO/1640
Date of REC Opinion
5 Oct 2017
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion