Australian researchers are recruiting patients to join online choirs as part of a study into the potential benefits of singing on COPD and other lung diseases.
At least 140 patients with COPD, ILD and breathlessness are being sought for the trial, which will test whether singing can lead to improvements in health-related quality of life compared to usual care.
Those in the intervention arm will be enrolled into weekly 90-minute group sessions held over Zoom, with participants encouraged to suggest songs and focus on breathing control.
The idea is to offer a low-cost and accessible alternative to regular pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) programs, says the research team led by Associate Professor Natasha Smallwood of the Alfred Hospital and Monash University in Melbourne.
Writing in Respiratory Research (link here), they stress PR — which encompasses tailored exercise, breath training, counselling and education — is well established and has been shown to improve symptoms and function.
But despite these benefits, PR referral and completion rates in Australia are “alarmingly low”.
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Associate Professor Natasha Smallwood
“Of the nearly 1.5 million older Australians living with symptomatic COPD, fewer than 10% have ever accessed a program; and internationally fewer than 3% have accessed pulmonary rehabilitation after hospitalisation for an exacerbation of their disease,” they wrote in the study protocol published last week.
“Given these challenges, there is a need for sustainable, novel, community-based interventions that are acceptable to patients and their carers, and effective in reducing symptom burden.”