Impact of Physical Exercise on Adult Asthma Control: A Randomized Clinical Trial

Abstract

Background: Most research on asthma and physical exercise is complex, costly, and often inconclusive, leading to minimal mention of exercise in international asthma management guidelines. Patients with mild asthma are frequently excluded from clinical trials, which focus on more severe cases, resulting in a lack of scientific evidence for this population. Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of a 3-month health intervention program promoting unstructured physical activity to improve asthma control, defined as a decrease of 0.5 points in the Asthma Control Questionnaire (ACQ-5). Methods: the study was designed as an open-label, two-arm randomized clinical trial involving sedentary asthmatic patients with intermittent to moderate persistent asthma. Participants were divided into an intervention group that attended three workshops based on World Health Organization recommendations for physical activity and a control group that continued their usual activities. All participants underwent three medical visits to assess variables such as asthma control, quality of life, rescue medication use, exacerbations, average steps taken, and respiratory function. Results: A total of 52 patients were recruited and randomized (26 patients per group), (73.1% women), with 48 completing the study (24 patients per group). The intervention group showed significant improvements in ACQ-5 scores (p = 0.035), mini-AQLQ score (p = 0.017), and average daily steps (p < 0.001). Significant differences were also observed between groups regarding respiratory function (p = 0.04) and average daily steps (p = 0.01). Conclusions: in sedentary asthmatic patients, including those with milder profiles, implementing low-resource physical exercise interventions significantly improved the average steps taken and respiratory function, while asthma control and rescue medication use showed a positive trend.