Does Respiratory Muscle Training Improve Cough Flow in Acute Stroke? Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Cough protects the lungs from aspiration. We investigated whether respiratory muscle training may improve respiratory muscle and cough function, and potentially reduce pneumonia risk in acute stroke.

METHODS: We conducted a single-blind randomized placebo-controlled trial in 82 patients with stroke (mean age, 64±14 years; 49 men) within 2 weeks of stroke onset. Participants were masked to treatment allocation and randomized to 4 weeks of daily expiratory (n=27), inspiratory (n=26), or sham training (n=25), using threshold resistance devices. Primary outcome was the change in peak expiratory cough flow of maximal voluntary cough. Intention-to-treat analyses were conducted using ANCOVA, adjusting for baseline prognostic covariates.

RESULTS: There were significant improvements in the mean maximal inspiratory (14 cmH2O; P<0.0001) and expiratory (15 cmH2O; P<0.0001) mouth pressure and peak expiratory cough flow of voluntary cough (74 L/min; P=0.0002) between baseline and 28 days in all groups. Peak expiratory cough flow of capsaicin-induced reflex cough was unchanged. There were no between-group differences that could be attributed to respiratory muscle training. There were also no differences in the 90-day incidence of pneumonia between the groups (P=0.65).

CONCLUSIONS: Respiratory muscle function and cough flow improve with time after acute stroke. Additional inspiratory or expiratory respiratory muscle training does not augment or expedite this improvement.

CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION: URL: http://www.controlled-trials.com. Unique identifier: ISRCTN40298220.