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Not yet recruitingNCT06231225Updated Jan 30, 2024

Study on the Effect of Incentive Spirometer-based Respiratory Training on the Long COVID-19

An interventional study of Incentive Spirometer respiratory training in COVID-19 Pandemic, Diabetes and Hypertension, sponsored by National Taipei University of Nursing and Health Sciences. Not yet recruiting. Open to participants aged 20 Years to 90 Years. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2024-01-30.

Sponsored by National Taipei University of Nursing and Health Sciences · Not applicable, Interventional, and Treatment

From the registry’s dates

  • Primary completion was expected by Jun 2025, 1 year 3 months ago, but the record still lists the study as not yet recruiting.
Phase
Not applicable
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
100
Allocation
Non-randomized
Ages
20 Years to 90 Years
Sex
All
01

Study summary

The COVID-19 pandemic has emerged as the most significant public health crisis of the 21st century. As of the end of January 2023, global confirmed cases have exceeded 670 million, with a domestic cumulative total of 10.24 million cases, including occurrences of reinfection. Beyond acute symptoms following infection, patients and society face the challenge of long-term complications associated with COVID-19. Termed 'Post COVID-19 condition' or 'Long COVID' by the World Health Organization (WHO), this encompasses symptoms appearing within three months of the initial infection. Symptoms of Long COVID reveal chronic damage inflicted by the virus on multiple organ systems, including fatigue, cognitive impairment, chest tightness, palpitations, difficulty breathing, and depression.

Despite continuous efforts by healthcare professionals to find suitable treatments, no medication has been confirmed to effectively prevent or reduce post-COVID-19 sequelae. These health issues impose significant burdens and disturbances on patients' quality of life, economies, and societies.

Read the detailed description

According to the Ministry of Health and Welfare's report on the top 10 causes of death in the 111th year, aside from the marked increase in COVID-19 cases, there have been significant increases in hypertensive diseases, Cardiac diseases, and diabetes .Therefore, addressing the post-COVID-19 sequelae among chronic disease patients is an essential global health issue in the post-pandemic era.

Current research indicates that respiratory training is safe and effective in improving the exercise capacity, lung function, and alleviating respiratory difficulties in COVID-19 recovered patients. The impact of respiratory training on patients' respiratory and physical function remains uncertain, especially considering that many present-day infections are among non-hospitalized individuals with mild symptoms. Thus, exploring simple and effective respiratory training methods to reduce COVID-19's long-term impact on patients warrants continuous investigation.

Therefore, this study will employ Incentive spirometer-based respiratory training to assist COVID-19 patients who has diabetes, hypertensive disease, or cardiac disease in respiratory training. Data collection before and after the intervention will involve oxygen demand, blood parameters, the post-COVID-19 Functional Status scale (PCFS scale), and lung function indices, to investigate and evaluate the effectiveness of intervention respiratory training in improving Long COVID symptoms.

02

Conditions studied

  • COVID-19 Pandemic
  • Diabetes
  • Hypertension
  • Cardiac Disease
  • Long COVID

Keywords

  • COVID-19
  • Post-Acute COVID-19 Syndrome
  • Long COVID-19
  • respiratory training
  • Hypertensive diseases
  • Cardiac diseases
  • Diabetes
  • Dyspnea
  • Incentive Spirometer
03

In context

COVID-19

7,640 studies on the registry are indexed under COVID-19; 488 are open to participants now.

This study's planned enrollment of 100 is close to the median of 100 across 4,099 interventional studies indexed under COVID-19.

Browse COVID-19 studies →

Lead sponsor

National Taipei University of Nursing and Health Sciences is the lead sponsor of 119 studies on the registry; 23 are open to participants now.

Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
20 Years to 90 Years
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
No

Inclusion criteria

  1. Individuals who have contracted and recovered from COVID-19 within the past year must present proof of diagnosis, such as medical certificates or screening results. The ICD-10 diagnosis codes are: U07.1 for confirmed COVID-19 viral infection, and U09.0 for post-COVID-19 condition, unspecified. Recovery is defined as testing negative in a COVID-19 rapid test.
  2. Never diagnosed with hypertensive diseases (ICD-10 codes: I10.x or I11.x), diabetes (ICD-10 codes: E10.x or E11.x), or heart diseases (ICD-10 codes: I25.x, I50.x, I65.x, or I67.x and classified as Class I or II by the New York Heart Association functional classification).
  3. Exhibiting long-term respiratory symptoms related to COVID-19, such as post-exertional breathlessness, chest discomfort, cough, difficulty breathing, rapid breathing, etc., and meeting at least one of these criteria for inclusion.
  4. Aged between 20 - 90 years.
  5. Able to communicate in and understand Mandarin or Taiwanese, either verbally or non-verbally.
  6. Willing to participate in the study and agree to be assigned.

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  1. Patients with a functional status classified as level 5 or higher on the Modified Rankin Scale (MRS), indicating severe disability and bedridden status.
  2. Patients suffering from dementia, such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's disease, etc.
  3. Patients with acute psychiatric symptoms who are unable to communicate.
  4. Individuals with a high risk of litigation.
  5. Patients suffering from Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) or any other respiratory system diseases.
  6. Patients with moderate or severe heart disease, classified as Class III or IV by the New York Heart Association functional classification.

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05

Study design

Phase
Not applicable
Primary purpose
Treatment
Allocation
Non-randomized
Intervention model
Parallel assignment
Masking
None (open label)
Enrollment
100 participants (estimated)

Study arms

  • No intervention
    control group

    not assign respiratory training

  • Experimental
    treatment group

    assign respiratory training

    Behavioral: Incentive Spirometer respiratory training

Interventions

  • BehavioralIncentive Spirometer respiratory training

    The incentive spirometer is a handheld mechanical breathing device that uses a one-way valve to prevent exhalation. It consists of a corrugated tube and a nozzle connected to three consecutive plastic chambers, each containing a ball. The external chambers are marked with the minimum flow required to raise the ball internally. The ball rises when the patient performs slow, deep breathing through the nozzle. If the patient breathes too quickly, the balls in the chambers rise to the top, and if breathing is too slow, the balls fall to the bottom. The number of increasing balls measures the volume of inhaled air. When all three balls reach the top of the chambers, the patient's flow rate can reach 1200 ml/s. After the patient has maximized their inhalation, they are asked to hold the balls in the same position for more than 3 sec.

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Post-COVID-19 Functional Status scale

    for check the effect of respiratory training

    Time frame: through study completion, an average of 1 year

Secondary outcomes

  1. Lung function indices

    for check the effect of respiratory training

    Time frame: through study completion, an average of 1 year

  2. Hemoglobin and oxygen levels

    for check the effect of respiratory training

    Time frame: through study completion, an average of 1 year

  3. Six-minute walk test (6MWT)

    for check the effect of respiratory training

    Time frame: through study completion, an average of 1 year

  4. Dyspnoea-12 (D-12) scale

    for check the effect of respiratory training

    Time frame: through study completion, an average of 1 year

07

Study locations

No study locations are listed for this record.

08

References and documents

Individual participant data

Plan to share: No

No publications or documents are linked to this record.

09

Updates

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Jan 30, 2024, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
10

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT06231225
Lead sponsor
National Taipei University of Nursing and Health Sciences
Collaborators
Tri-Service General Hospital
Responsible party
Yu-Shan Hsieh (Assistant professor, National Taipei University of Nursing and Health Sciences) — Principal investigator
First posted
Jan 30, 2024
Start date
Jul 1, 2024 (estimated)
Primary completion
Jun 30, 2025 (estimated)
Completion
Aug 1, 2026 (estimated)
Last update
Jan 30, 2024

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
No
FDA-regulated drug
No
FDA-regulated device
No
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

Not currently enrolling

This study is not yet recruiting, as verified in Jan 2024. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.

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