title: Breathing retraining: a three-year follow-up study of treatment for hyperventilation syndrome and associated functional cardiac symptoms.
abstract: This study was designed to evaluate the long-term effects of paced diaphragmatic breathing on subjects who reported functional cardiac symptoms and who also demonstrated associated signs of hyperventilation syndrome. Subjects were a representative sample composed of 10 out of the original 41 subjects who had participated three years previously in a study designed to evaluate the short-term effects of breathing retraining on functional cardiac symptoms and respiratory parameters (respiratory rate and end-tidal carbon dioxide). The results of this follow-up study indicate that breathing retraining had lasting effects on both respiratory parameters measured. Subjects evidenced significantly higher end-tidal carbon dioxide levels and lower respiratory rates when compared to pretreatment levels measured three years earlier. Subjects also continued to report a decrease in the frequency of functional cardiac symptoms when compared to pretreatment levels. We conclude that breathing retraining has lasting effects on respiratory physiology and is highly correlated with a reduction in reported functional cardiac symptoms.
authors.affiliation: California School of Professional Psychology, USA.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: DeGuire
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Gevirtz
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Hawkinson
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Dixon
mesh_terms: D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006321:Heart / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006801:Humans; D006985:Hyperventilation / Q000503:physiopathology*; D008297:Male; D012119:Respiration / Q000502:physiology*