Effect of a behavioral change intervention to increase physical activity in sleep quality and asthma symptoms

Abstract

Introduction: People with asthma are more likely to develop sleep-disordered breathing and psychosocial symptoms (anxiety and depression), which can lead to worsening asthma symptoms. On the other hand, physical activity is recognized to improve sleep quality; however, the effect of behavioral interventions to increase physical activity and its repercussion on the sleep quality in patients with asthma remains unknown. Objectives: This study has two objectives: i) evaluate the effect of behavioral intervention in sleep quality in adults with asthma, through the increase in daily life physical activity (DLPA); and ii) verify the relation between changes in sleep quality with health factors related to quality of life, symptoms of anxiety and depression and in symptoms of asthma. Methods: It is a controlled randomized clinical trial, in which 34 physically inactive adults with asthma (<7500 steps/day), of both genres and ages between 18 and 60 years old, will be randomly assigned into 2 groups: control group (CG) and intervention group (IG). Both groups will receive an education program, but only the IG will be submitted to a behavioral intervention through counseling and incentives to the increase of DLPA. The evaluations before and after the intervention will include the DLPA (accelerometer Actigraph, GT9X) quality of life (Asthma Quality of Life Questionnaire), levels of anxiety and depression (Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale), symptoms of asthma (symptoms diary) and sleep quality (Berlim Questionnaire and accelerometer Actigraph GT9X). The initial comparison between groups will be taken using the unpaired t test or Mann-Whitney for initial continuous variables and the Chi-aquare test for categorical variables. The comparisons between the groups and inside the same group (pre-pos intervention) will be taken using two factors ANOVA with repeated measures and the post hoc Bonferroni test. The significance level will be adjusted to 5% (p<0,05) for all tests and the Sigma Stat 3.5 program (Systat Software Inc.; Chicago, IL) will be utilized for the statistical analysis.