The quality of life of the patients suffering from bronchial asthma treated by the combination of hypoxically hypercapnic stimulation and amplipulse therapy as a component of the spa and health resort-based treatment

The treatment of the patients presenting with bronchial asthma (BA) has the purpose of achieving the total control over the disease and improving the quality of the patients’ life. The objective of the present study was to elucidate the influence of hypoxically hypercapnic stimulation (HHS)and amplipulse therapy (APT) or their combination on the quality of life (QL)of the patients suffering from bronchial asthma. The study included 127 patients with BA examined before and 6 months after the spa and health resort-based treatment. The quality of life was estimated with the use of the MOS 36-Item Short-Form Health Survey questionnaire. HHS and APT procedures were carried out in combination with the comparable pharmacotherapeutic an balneotherapeutic treatment provided In the healthcare facilities located at the South Coast of Crimea (Yalta). It was shown that the application of hypoxically hypercapnic stimulation and amplipulse therapy, separately or in the combination, makes it possible to improve the quality of life of the patients suffering from bronchial asthma as demonstrated by their increased physical strength, viability, social activities, and psychic health as a whole. Moreover, such patients show more positive subjective attitude toward their own general health status. The most beneficial improvement of all characteristics of the quality of life was documented in the case of the combined application of hypoxically hypercapnic stimulation and amplipulse therapy. Specifically, the physical activity of the patients increased from 58.83 ± 18.44 to 76.12 ± 14.48 scores (p<0,05), the occurrence of the physical and psychic problems decreased as apparent from the increase of the relevant indices from 22.63 ± 24.66 to 56.24 ± 20.48 scores (p<0,001) and from 40.71 ± 31.00 to 59.63 ± 27.61 scores respectively (p<0,05), viability increased from 30.59 ± 12.22 to 53.48 ± 12.50 scores (p<0,001), social health and the general health statuts improved from 22.02 ± 10.86 to 57.7 ± 9.84 scores (p<0,001) and from 20.03 ± 9.67 to 53.56 ± 8.94 scores respectively (p<0,001). It is concluded that both separate and combined application of f hypoxically hypercapnic stimulation and amplipulse therapy as a component of the spa and health resort-based treatment improves the quality of life of the patients suffering from bronchial asthma. The effectiveness of the treatment is especially high when the two therapeutic modalities are used in the combination.

bronchial asthma, quality of life, hypoxically hypercapnic stimulation, amplipulse therapy