Treating Hypertension With Breath Control

Penang Hospital, Malaysia

Status: Unknown

Conditions: Hypertension

Treatments: Behavioral: Breath control

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT01285193

CT10-HPP-001

NMRR-10-686-6238 (Other Identifier)

Details and patient eligibility

About

The purpose of this study is to determine if blood pressure can be reduced in hypertensive subjects by regularising and slowing their breathing. This may be a safe and affordable complementary treatment for hypertension.

Full description

This is a randomised controlled trial in which hypertensive subjects allocated to receive either a CD with relaxation music or one with the same music plus certain sound cues to guide the listener on when to breathe. The subjects will continue with their normal medications and the intervention will last 2 months.

Enrollment: 84 estimated patients

Sex: All

Ages: 19+ years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Above 18 years old
• Patients with essential hypertension
• Systolic BP from 140 to 159 mm Hg
• Diastolic BP from 90 to 99 mm Hg
• On hypertensive medication for at least 3 months before the study
• Hypertensive medication unchanged during the 3 months before the study
• Patients able to fill in a log sheet

Exclusion criteria

• ischaemic heart disease
• congestive heart failure
• cardiac arrhythmias
• renal failure
• diabetes mellitus
• previous stroke
• major organ failure
• cigarette smoking
• respiratory diseases
• psychiatric disorders
• severe obesity (BMI >35 kg/m2)
• hearing impairment
• unable to operate a CD player or do not have access to a CD player
• arm circumference <22 cm. or >42 cm.

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Single Blind

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84 participants in 1 patient group

Breath control

Experimental group

Description:

A music CD with sound cues is used to guide the subject to breathe in a regular and slower rate. This is practiced for at least 15 minutes a day over 2 months.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Breath control