Yoga Education Program for Reducing Drug Dependency and Promoting Better Asthma Control for Chronic Asthmatic Children: A Multicity Experiment

• Published in: Global Pediatric Health Vol. 6; p. 2333794X19837455
• Main Author: Pandya, Samta
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Los Angeles, CA SAGE Publications 2019; Sage Publications Ltd; SAGE Publishing
• Subjects: Asthma; Children; Education; Original; Within-subjects design; Yoga; yoga; repeated measures design; asthma; asthma control; asthmatic children; yoga education program
• ISSN: 2333-794X; 2333-794X; 3050-2225
• DOI: 10.1177/2333794X19837455

This article reports a 1-year long yoga education program (YEP) experiment aimed at reducing drug dependency and promoting better asthma control for chronic asthmatic children. Participants were 450 chronic asthmatic children across 4 cities. Two measures were used: Pediatric Asthma Diary (PAD) and Childhood Asthma Control Test (C-ACT). Results indicated that intervention group children had better asthma control in terms of lower average PAD scores and higher C-ACT scores and reduced drug intake vis-à-vis the control group. Within the intervention cohort, asthma symptoms persistence was lower and control was higher for children from Asian cities, boys, Hindus, middle-class children, those whose mothers were their primary caregivers, who lived in standard family setups, who also attended the optional YEP rounds, and regularly self-practiced. The strongest predictor of lower posttest PAD scores and higher C-ACT scores was self-practice. The YEP can be used as an effective complementary treatment for chronic asthmatic children.