The effect of breathing exercise on fatigue of patients with heart failure

This study was conducted with randomized, controlled, and experimental design in the cardiology services and outpatient clinics of two hospitals between 18.03.2020 and 06.07.2022 in order to examine the effect of breathing exercise applied to patients with heart failure on their fatigue. While the population of the study consisted of all patients with heart failure who applied to the related hospitals, the sample consisted of patients who volunteered to participate in the study and met the inclusion criteria. The study was completed with a total of 66 patients who were assigned to breathing (n=22), placebo (n=22) and control (n=22) groups. In the breathing group, the prepared breathing exercise protocol was applied three times a week for 20 minutes for eight weeks. In the placebo group, exercise including spontaneous breathing and lasting for 10-15 minutes was performed three times a week for eight weeks. On the remaining four days of the week, patients were asked to perform the application on their own using reminders (text message or voice call). No application was made to the control group. Before starting the study, approval from ethics committee, permission from institutions, and consent from the patients were obtained. Data were collected with the questionnaire, patient follow-up chart, and Piper Fatigue Scale-PFS (total score of the scale ranges from 0 to 10, and higher scores signify higher level of fatigue). PFS was applied to all groups at the beginning of the study and at the end of the fourth and eighth weeks. The patient follow-up chart including saturation, heart rate and respiratory rate was applied to the breathing and placebo groups before and after each application. The data were assessed using appropriate statistical methods. It was determined that while the PFS total and subscale scores of the patients in the breathing group decreased after the application (p<0.05), there was no statistically significant decrease in the PFS total and subscale scores in the placebo and control groups. In addition, there was a significant decrease in the respiratory rate of the patients in the breathing group (p<0.05). In this sense, it is recommended to include breathing exercises in the nursing care of patients with heart failure and to use them in fatigue management.