The effect of breathing exercise on chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting in with autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation patients

This research was conducted as a randomized controlled experimental study to examine the effect of breathing exercise on the management of chemotherapy-related nausea and vomiting in patients who underwent autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. It was conducted between February 2022 and March 2023 with patients admitted to Koç University Hospital - Bone Marrow Transplantation Unit for autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. A total number of 70 patients hospitalized for autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation who were grade 1 and/or above according to NCI-CTCAE v5.0 - nausea toxicity criteria, did not use any non-pharmacological methods for nausea/vomiting, and received standard antiemetic treatment in accordance with the treatment protocol were included. Patients were randomly assigned to experimental (n=35) and control groups (n=35) using with a computerized randomization program. The breathing exercise program was demonstrated practically to the patients in the experimental group by the researcher in the first interview, and they were asked to do this exercise for five minutes and continue for the following 14 days when they had post-treatment nausea. They were evaluated by the researcher every day. The standard care protocol of the clinic was applied to the control group. Data were collected for 14 days with the Patient Information Form (at the first interview), Rhodes Nausea-Vomiting and Gagging Index (every day), Patient Nausea and Vomiting Tracking Chart (every day) and Daily Food Consumption Amount (every day) forms. In the analysis of the data, frequency (n) and percentage (%) were used for categorical variables, and mean (x), standard deviation (sd), minimum and maximum statistics were used for numerical (quantitative) variables. Since the measurements did not show a normal distribution, non-parametric methods were used. Additionally, Pearson chi-square, Kruskal Wallis test, Mann Whitney U and multiple linear regression analysis tests were used to analyze the data. When the distribution of the personal characteristics of the patients was examined; it was determined that the mean age of the experimental group was 55.86 and the control group was 57.66, most patients (57.1%) were male, 74.7% were married and 100% were literate. A negative and statistically significant relationship was found between the number of breathing exercises and the number of nauseas, severity of nausea and number of vomiting. It was also determined that as the number of breathing exercises increased, the number and severity of nausea and the number of vomiting decreased (p<.05). Furthermore, it was found that the use of antiemetics decreased in the experimental group and the amount of daily meal consumption was statistically significantly higher than the control group (p<.05). As a result, breathing exercise was found to be an effective approach in the management of chemotherapy-related nausea and vomiting.