A breathing technique for asthma sufferers introduced some 40 years ago can reduce asthma symptoms and improve mood, results of a controlled trial indicate.

The so-called Papworth method is a sequence of breathing and relaxation exercises developed at Papworth Hospital, Cambridgeshire, in the 1960s. Despite its long history of use, no randomized trials have ever examined the efficacy of the Papworth method.

Drs. Elizabeth A. Holloway and Robert J. West, from University College London assessed the outcomes of 85 asthma patients who were randomly assigned to receive usual care (the controls) or five sessions of the Papworth method. Respiratory symptoms and mood were evaluated using standard tests at the beginning of the study and at 6 and 12 months.

The Papworth method teaches asthma patients how to reduce rapid shallow breathing during times of stress in favor for more relaxed deep breathing. It also teaches people how to manage the stress response, relax, and integrate breathing techniques into their daily lives. Home exercises reinforce the techniques learned.

In their study, Holloway and West found that patients taught the Papworth method experienced significantly greater improvement in respiratory symptoms than did controls. Moreover, use of the Papworth method was associated with reductions in anxiety and depression as well as dysfunctional breathing.

However, objective measures of respiratory function did not show a significant difference between the groups with the exception of the relaxed breathing rate. "To our knowledge, this is the first evidence from a controlled trial to demonstrate the effectiveness of the Papworth method," the authors conclude. It would be interesting to determine if this method might be a useful treatment for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) as well, they add.