Trial reportBMJ supportive & palliative care2025
Handheld fans for dyspnoea in respiratory failure: randomised controlled trial.
Trial report in BMJ supportive & palliative care, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
4 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Fan Therapy for Alleviating Dyspnea in Adults: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Journal of clinical nursing · 2026Pooled it
- Guideline for Medication Management of Distressing Symptoms in Older Patients Receiving End-of-Life Palliative Care.Journal of evidence-based medicine · 2026Guideline
- Airflow for reducing breathlessness in people with serious respiratory illness: a systematic review.ERJ open research · 2026Article
- Application of Fan Therapy in Alleviating Dyspnea.Journal of multidisciplinary healthcare · 2025Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveFan therapy is widely acknowledged as an essential component in the management of dyspnoea with numerous studies supporting its efficacy in alleviating dyspnoea among patients with chronic illnesses. However, there is limited evidence regarding the effectiveness of fan therapy in reducing dyspnoea in patients with respiratory failure undergoing continuous oxygen therapy. This study aimed to assess the efficacy of fan therapy in mitigating dyspnoea in this specific patient population through a randomised controlled trial.
methodsParticipants meeting the inclusion criteria were randomly assigned to either an experimental group or a control group. In the experimental group, a handheld fan (HHF) was directed at the face, while in the control group the fan was aimed at the legs. Both interventions were conducted at a distance of 15-30 cm for 10 min. Key physiological and subjective measures, including heart rate, respiratory rate, blood pressure, blood oxygen saturation, facial skin temperature and Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) scores, were recorded immediately after fan therapy.
resultsThe experimental group demonstrated a statistically significant reduction in VAS scores (p<0.05) compared with the control group indicating that fan therapy effectively alleviates dyspnoea in patients with respiratory failure receiving continuous oxygen therapy.
conclusionHHFs are affordable, widely accessible and highly effective in relieving dyspnoea with minimal risk. Therefore, fan therapy should be considered as a complementary treatment for patients with respiratory failure and incorporated alongside standard therapeutic interventions for the condition.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.