Journal Article

Effects of Cough Training and Inspiratory Muscle Training on Cough Strength in Older Adults: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Jun Horie, Akari Suzuki, Hideo Kaneko

2022

Overview

Purpose While the need for preventive strategies to reduce the incidence of aspiration pneumonia has been indicated, it is also important to investigate effective training methods to improve cough function, which is associated with the development of aspiration pneumonia. This study aimed to investigate whether a 4-week home-based unsupervised cough training (CT) or inspiratory muscle training (IMT) program was effective in improving cough strength in older adults. Methods Fifty-three ambulatory older adults without airflow limitations were randomly assigned to one of three groups: a CT group ( n  = 18), an IMT group ( n  = 18), or a control group ( n  = 17). The CT and IMT groups performed home-based unsupervised training with a device for 4 weeks. Cough strength (cough peak flow), forced vital capacity, and respiratory muscle strength were assessed at the 4-week and 16-week follow-up. Intention-to-treat analyses were performed to investigate differences between the three groups using linear mixed models. Results At the 4-week follow-up, the CT group showed significant increases in cough peak flow and forced vital capacity compared with the control group, while the IMT group showed significant increases in inspiratory muscle strength compared with the cough training and control groups. At the 16-week follow-up, the CT group showed a significant increase in cough peak flow compared with the IMT group. Conclusion These preliminary results suggest that a 4-week home-based CT program may have short-term effectiveness in improving cough peak flow in ambulatory older adults. Trial registration : This trial was registered on UMIN-CTR on 01/05/2018 (UMIN000031656).

• Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC,Springer US,Springer,Springer Nature B.V
• Subject: Activities of daily living / Adults / Aged / Air flow / Analysis / Bacterial pneumonia / Breathing Exercises / Breathing Exercises - methods / Clinical trials / Cough / Cough - therapy / Dysphagia / Effectiveness / Humans / Hypotheses / Intervention / Medicine / Medicine & Public Health / Mobility / Muscle function / Muscle Strength / Muscle Strength - physiology / Older people / Pneumology/Respiratory System / Pneumonia / Prevention / Respiration / Respiratory Muscles / Respiratory therapy / Training / Vital Capacity / Weightlifting