Asthma is one of the chronic and long-term diseases of the airways. It is characterized by reversible airflow obstruction, chest tightness, and dyspnea with decreased work of breathing. The inside airway’s walls are swollen or inflamed. The aim of this study was to determine the effectiveness of active cycle of breathing technique as an airway clearance technique in patients with asthma. The health-related quality of life and functional capacity of patients was measured using a standardized airway questionnaire (AQ20) and six-minute walk test. The study was cohort design included 38 patients (mean age 41.131±14.711) of both genders with mild to moderate asthma. Each patient received multiple sessions (3 times/week for one month) of active cycle of breathing technique. Pre and post-treatment measures were recorded for functional capacity and health-related quality of life in the form of six-minute walk test and standardized airway questionnaire. All 38 patients were stable during the study period. The health-related quality of life and functional capacity of patient significantly improved post-treatment sessions with means [205.375±93.594 for week 1, 1248.719±112.187 for week 2, 306.429±140.5554 for week 3, 337.245±134.389 for week 4], for six-minute wall test and mean difference 4.13± 2.3 SD for standardized airway questionnaire with p-value (0.00) significant upon paired t-test. It is concluded that the active cycle of breathing technique is very beneficial intervention for improving quality of life and functional capacity of patients with mild to moderate asthma. Further, investigations are required to explore efficiency of ABCT as a tool for cardio-pulmonary rehabilitation.
A normal health status is highly depends on body weight. Many health problems may occur or impose risk for
extremely obese individuals. Etiopathology of obesity includes interaction of several factors inclusive of
genetic and non-genetic factors such as lifestyle changes. This study aimed to launch Malaysian Obesity
DNA Bank and determine the prevalence of obesity along with anthropometric measurements of the subjects.
The cross-sectional study was conducted on total of 340 subjects (obese = 95, overweight = 122 and normal =
123), aged 19-60 years, in Terengganu. The BMI and well appropriate anthropometric measurements (waist
circumference, hip circumference, waist to hip ratio, fat percentage and ASindex) were determined through
standard protocols and formulae. The mean difference of anthropometrics was determined by independent ttest. Data was analysed using SPSS ver.16.0.0. The BMI was determined for all subjects and it was found that
out of 340 subjects, a total of 95 (27.9%) subjects were obese , followed by a total of 122 (35.8%) subjects
were overweight and normal individuals were 123 (36.1%). The mean of the BMI, WHR, Fat% and ASindex,
in Malay obese were 32.83, 0.88, 33.5 and 13.21 respectively, while in normal healthy individuals were 22.1,
0.78, 24.2 and 20.1 respectively. The difference of mean of BMI, WHR, Fat% and ASindex was calculated to
be 10.73, 0.1, 9.3 and 6.89 respectively. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report in Malaysia,
reporting that this is very first Obesity DNA Bank in South East Asia region and prevalence of obesity in
Terengganu, Malaysia to be 27.9%. In addition, it indicates a significant mean difference for anthropometric
measurements among obese and normal individuals. For Asindex calculations suggest that the prevalence of
genocide obesity is greater 89.9% of android obesity in Malay obese attributes
.