Pregnant women with bronchial asthma benefit from progressive muscle relaxation: A randomized, prospective, controlled trial

Background: Asthma is a serious medical problem in pregnancy and is
often associated with stress, anger and poor quality of life. The
aim of this study was to determine the efficacy of progressive
muscle relaxation (PMR) on change in blood pressure, lung
parameters, heart rate, anger and health-related quality of life in
pregnant women with bronchial asthma. Methods: We treated a sample
of 64 pregnant women with bronchial asthma from the local
population in an 8-week randomized, prospective, controlled trial.
Thirty-two were selected for PMR, and 32 received a placebo
intervention. The systolic blood pressure, forced expiratory volume
in the first second, peak expiratory flow and heart rate were
tested, and the State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory and Health
Survey (SF-36) were employed. Results: According to the
intend-to-treat principle, a significant reduction in systolic
blood pressure and a significant increase in both forced expiratory
volume in the first second and peak expiratory flow were observed
after PMR. The heart rate showed a significant increase in the
coefficient of variation, root mean square of successive
differences and high frequency ranges, in addition to a significant
reduction in low and middle frequency ranges. A significant
reduction on three of five State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory
scales, and a significant increase on seven of eight SF-36 scales
were observed. Conclusions: PMR appears to be an effective method
to improve blood pressure, lung parameters and heart rate, and to
decrease anger levels, thus enhancing health-related quality of
life in pregnant women with bronchial asthma. Copyright (c) 2006 S.
Karger AG, Basel.