Ambulatory Respiratory Inductance Plethysmography (RIP). Can it be Used to Help Identify Dysfunctional Breathing in Difficult Asthma?

Hypothesis

Dysfunctional breathing patterns are more prevalent in patients with a diagnosis of difficult to treat asthma than healthy volunteers.

Design

This will be an open, prospective study, recruiting sequential patients admitted electively to undergo the difficult asthma protocol (DAP). These patients are generally admitted during a period of stability, but still have significant symptoms despite asthma therapy. Healthy volunteers will be recruited from hospital staff and their family and friends.

We will recruit patients over a 12 to 18 month period and hope to enrol 60 patients. On the final day of their 4 day admission, patients will be asked to wear the life vest from 0800hrs. During the morning they will undergo a 6 minute walk to test to assess their responses during exercise. They will also be reviewed by the supervising consultant to discuss the results of their investigations. While wearing the shirt, the patient will be asked to keep a diary of their activities and symptoms. The Life Shirt can be removed by the patient at the time of discharge.