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Effect of slow abdominal breathing combined with biofeedback on blood pressure and heart rate variability in prehypertension
Randomised trial in 22 postmenopausal women with prehypertension: ten sessions of slow abdominal breathing (~6 cycles/min) plus frontal EMG biofeedback and home practice lowered clinic systolic/diastolic blood pressure more than slow breathing alone (mean −8.4/−3.9 mmHg vs −4.3/0 mmHg pattern in abstract); RR-interval increased preferentially in the biofeedback arm during training.
Design
- Population: 22 postmenopausal women with prehypertension
- Arms: slow abdominal breathing (~6 cycles/min) + frontal EMG biofeedback + daily home practice vs slow breathing alone + home practice
- Duration: 10 supervised sessions
BP outcomes (abstract)
- Biofeedback + breathing: SBP −8.4 mmHg (p < 0.001), DBP −3.9 mmHg (p < 0.05)
- Breathing alone: SBP −4.3 mmHg (p < 0.05), DBP not significantly changed (p > 0.05)
- Between-arm tests: authors report biofeedback + breathing more effective than slow breathing alone for BP lowering (p < 0.05)
HRV outcomes (abstract)
- R-R interval increased during training only in the biofeedback arm (p < 0.05)
- SDNN increased during training in both arms (p < 0.05)
Evidence hygiene
- Small n, prehypertensive women only—complements device-based HRV biofeedback RCTs on
hrv-biofeedbackrather than replacing hypertension medication trials.
Publication
Wang SZ, Li S, Xu XY, et al. J Altern Complement Med. 2010 Jul;16(7):741-750. Epub 2009 Dec 22. PMID 20954960.
Outcomes
- Systolic Blood Pressure-8.4mmHg (Millimetres of Mercury)
- Diastolic Blood Pressure-3.9mmHg (Millimetres of Mercury)