The Effect of Breathing Exercises on Breathing Pattern of Pregnant Women

purpose: physiological changes during pregnancy impose numerous changes on the respiratorysystem that can affect the health of both mother and fetus. regarding the importance of thenormal breathing in the health of mother and fetus, this study aimed to investigate the effect ofbreathing exercise on breathing pattern of pregnant women. methods: the study population was pregnant women with gestational age of 28 weeks. thesample comprised 52 pregnant women aged 18 to 35 years. the subjects were randomly dividedinto the intervention and control groups. the intervention group performed specific breathingexercises 3 times a day, each time 15-20 minutes for 10 weeks. in this period, the control groupdid not receive any training program. pressure of end tidal carbon dioxide (petco2) wasmeasured using capnography device before and after this period in both groups. data wereanalyzed using spss 16 software. kolmogorov-smirnov test was used to examine normaldistribution of the data. in order to study the changes within each group, paired t-test was usedand for comparing the groups, independent t-test was used. p <0.05 was considered as thesignificant level. results: comparison of petco2 of two groups before performing breathing exercises showedthat mean petco2 in the intervention group was 1.08 mmhg less than the control group.thisdifference was not significant (p= 0.308). however, after performing breathing exercises, meanpetco2 in the intervention group was 2.34 mmhg higher than the control group, which showeda significant difference (p= 0.011). conclusion: according to these results, performing breathing exercises increases the amount ofpetco2 and pushes it toward the normal range in pregnant women. therefore, these exercisescan help modify breathing patterns in pregnant women, and has a significant role in fetal andmaternal health.