Effect of Pursed-Lip Breathing on Blood Pressure and Heart Rate

Effect of Pursed-Lip Breathing Combined With Number Counting on Blood Pressure and Heart Rate in Hypertensive Urgency Patients: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Status

Completed

Phases

Study type

Interventional

Source

ClinicalTrials.gov

Registry ID

NCT04572672

Enrollment

112

Registered

2020-10-01

Start date

2019-09-01

Completion date

2020-09-14

Last updated

2020-10-01

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Hypertensive Urgency

Keywords

Hypertensive crisis, Uncontrolled hypertension, Mindfulness, Slow breathing, Emergency room

Brief summary

Hypertensive urgency (HT urgency) is an alarm sign of uncontrolled hypertension. It can be aggravated by nonadherent to medication and psychosocial stress. Mindfulness is beneficial for reducing stress, while deep and slow breathing is effective for blood pressure (BP) lowering. The objective of the study was to assess the effect of pursed-lip breathing with number counting (PLB with NC) that promotes mindfulness and a deep/slow breathing pattern on BP and heart rate (HR) in the HT urgency patients.

Detailed description

This was a single-blinded randomized controlled trial. Patients aged between 18-80 years old, diagnosed with HT urgency, who presented at the emergency room of Srinagarind hospital (a 1000-bed, tertiary-care level university hospital), Khon Kaen University between September 1st, 2019 to June 30th, 2020, were enrolled. Those with cardiac arrhythmias, acute HF, acute coronary syndromes, acute stroke, acute respiratory failure, alteration of consciousness, and pregnant women were excluded. This study was approved by the Khon Kaen University Ethical Review Board in Human Research (HE611586). All patients gave their written informed consent before the enrollment.HT urgency was defined as SBP \>180 mmHg and/or DBP \>110 mmHg without any signs or symptoms of target organ damages.

Interventions

OTHERNon-pharmacologic treatment; Pursed-Lip Breathing Combined with Number Counting

Pursed-lip breathing and number counting one and two during inspiration, and then number counting, one, two, three, and four during exhalation. The nurse advised the patient to continue pursed-lip breathing with number counting for the first 15 minutes (min) of each hour to prevent the patient from being exhausted, total study time was 3 hours, or until the patient was discharged from the ER, or was withdrawn from the study.

Study design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Intervention model

PARALLEL

Primary purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

SINGLE (Outcomes Assessor)

Intervention model description

This was a single-blinded randomized controlled trial.

Eligibility

Sex/Gender

ALL

Age

18 Years to 80 Years

Healthy volunteers

Inclusion criteria

* 18-80 years old patients who diagnosed with HT urgency, who presented at the emergency room

Exclusion criteria

* Patients with cardiac arrhythmias, * Acute heart failure * Acute coronary syndromes * Acute stroke * Acute respiratory failure * Alteration of consciousness * Pregnant women

Design outcomes

Primary

Measure	Time frame	Description
Change of systolic blood pressure	pre-intervention and 3 hours after the intervention	The change of systolic blood pressure level was assessed.
Change of diastolic blood pressure	pre-intervention and 3 hours after the intervention	The change of diastolic blood pressure level was assessed.
Change of heart rate	pre-intervention and 3 hours after the intervention	The change of heart rate was assessed.

Countries

Thailand

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Data processed: Feb 4, 2026