Nehal A. Shawky, Nesreen G. El Nahas, Azza A.E. Abd el Hady, Safy Z Kadah

Abstract

Background: Pickwickian syndrome is a condition in which severe obese patients fail to breathe quickly or deeply enough, leading to low oxygen levels and high blood carbon dioxide (CO₂) levels. Purpose: To investigate the effect of breathing retraining using breathslim device on functional capacity in Pickwickian syndrome patients. Subjects and methods: Sixty patients of both sexes with BMI more than 35kg/m² were recruited from the outpatient clinic of Tanta Police Hospital; they were randomly and equally allocated into 2 different groups using select the card method into 2 groups. Group A (study group) consisted of 13 men and 17 women who received breathing retraining plus controlled diet (1200kcal) and physician advises and Group B (control group) consisted of 15 men and 15 women received controlled diet (1200 kcal) and physician advice only. Arterial blood gases were analyzed using an analyzer; FEV1 and FVC were assessed using spirometry besides recording the score of 6MWT. Results: All variables exhibited statistically significant improvement (P>0.000) in the study group with a significant difference regarding post values when contrasted to the control group (P>0.000). The results showed that the percent of change for PO₂, PCO₂, HCO₃, FEV1, FVC and 6MWT for the group A were increased by9.54%, 80.33%, 94.54%, and 12.69% and decreased by14.93% and 15.38% respectively, and for the group В also increased by 0.37%, 0.75%, 2.48%, 2.31%, 0.7% and decreased by 2.2%, respectively. Conclusion: It was concluded that breathing retraining using breath slim device have a modulating effect on functional capacity in Pickwickian syndrome patients.