Exercise Improved Quality of Life in Children With Bronchial Asthma

Children with bronchial asthma benefit from exercise rehabilitation, according to a systematic review and meta-analysis published in the Chinese Journal of Contemporary Pediatrics.

“Current evidence shows that exercise rehabilitation has a positive effect in improving exercise capacity and quality of life in children with bronchial asthma,” researchers wrote.

The systematic review and meta-analysis included 14 randomized controlled trials investigating the effect of exercise rehabilitation on 990 children with bronchial asthma.

Compared with conventional treatment, children who received exercise rehabilitation had significantly better exercise capacity. In the 6-minute walk test, mean differences were 108.13 in distance covered, 2.16 in rating of perceived effort, and 0.94 in peak power, meta-analysis showed.

In Pediatric Asthma Quality of Life Questionnaire assessment, the exercise rehabilitation group had significantly higher total score of quality of life (1.28 standardized mean difference), activity score (1.38 standardized mean difference), symptom score (1.02 standardized mean difference), and emotional score (0.86 standardized mean difference) compared with the conventional treatment group, researchers reported.

“Due to limited number and quality of studies included in the analysis,” they added, “further research is needed.”

Reference:

Liu F, Liu YR, Liu L. Effect of exercise rehabilitation on exercise capacity and quality of life in children with bronchial asthma: a systematic review. Chin J Contemp Pediatr. 2021;23(10):1050-1057. doi:10.7499/j.issn.1008-8830.2104124