Effect of pursed lips breathing on exercise induced desaturation in patients with oxygen therapy

Abstract

Introduction: The flying disc accuracy (FDA) game for the subjects with oxygen therapy could become one of the attempts to make patients go outside. However, the resolution against the decrease of percutaneous arterial oxygen saturation (SpO2 ) during the game could be necessary. We hypothesized that the decline of SpO2 during the FDA game could be suppressed by pursed lips breathing (PLB) and that the improvement could be partly associated with decreased breath-holding time. Materials and methods: FDA game was conducted for 15 subjects with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and oxygen therapy. The effect of PLB on the decline of SpO2 during the game and the effect of PLB on breath-holding time were evaluated. Results: The SpO2 decreased during the FDA game in subjects with oxygen therapy. The decrease of SpO2 in game period was significantly suppressed by PLB (difference 1.165; 95% CI 0.030, 2.299; p=0.044), and the decline of SpO2 from pre-game to game period was suppressed by 2% or less. The breath-holding time was significantly shorter with PLB than without PLB (0.860 sec, 0.243 sec, respectively; p<0.001). Conclusion: The decline of SpO2 during the FDA game in subjects with oxygen therapy was significantly improved by PLB, which could be partly associated with reduction of the breath-holding time.