Trial reportBMC anesthesiology2026
Effect of the active cycle breathing technique on pain, anxiety and arterial blood oxygen saturation in patients undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting.
Trial report in BMC anesthesiology, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
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
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
purposeAddressing pain and anxiety after coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) is essential. This research evaluates the associations between the Active Cycle of Breathing Technique (ACBT) and pain levels, anxiety, and blood oxygen saturation in patients recovering from CABG surgery.
methodSeventy-six patients undergoing CABG surgery were randomly assigned using permuted block randomization (19 blocks of 4 participants) to either the intervention group (n = 38) or the control group (n = 38). After exclusions (2 reoperations in control, 1 withdrawal in intervention), 73 patients completed the study (intervention: n = 37; control: n = 36). The intervention group received ACBT alongside standard respiratory care, consisting of four sessions (two sessions daily at 10:00 AM and 5:00 PM on postoperative days 2 and 3), with each session lasting 10 min and including three phases: breathing control, thoracic expansion exercises, and coughing technique. The control group received standard respiratory care with incentive spirometry (10-20 deep breaths per session) over the same schedule. Outcome measures pain (Visual Analog Scale), anxiety (State-Trait Anxiety Inventory), and arterial oxygen saturation (pulse oximetry) were assessed before intervention and after each of the four sessions by a blinded research assistant. Data were analyzed using repeated measures ANOVA.
resultsBaseline pain levels differed significantly between groups (p = 0.005), with the intervention group reporting higher pain. After adjusting for baseline differences, the ACBT group demonstrated significantly lower pain scores after the second (p < 0.001), third (p = 0.007), and fourth (p < 0.001) sessions compared to the control group. Anxiety levels were significantly lower in the ACBT group after all four sessions (p = 0.005, p = 0.019, p = 0.010, p = 0.004, respectively). Arterial oxygen saturation was significantly higher in the ACBT group after all four sessions (p < 0.001). Repeated measures ANOVA revealed significant group effects for pain (p < 0.001), anxiety (p = 0.006), and oxygen saturation (p < 0.001). Time effects were significant for anxiety (p < 0.001) and oxygen saturation (p < 0.001), but not for pain (p = 0.491). The group × time interaction was significant only for oxygen saturation (p < 0.001).
conclusionACBT was associated with lower pain and anxiety and higher arterial oxygen saturation in patients after CABG surgery. These findings suggest that ACBT may warrant consideration for integration into postoperative respiratory care protocols, pending further research with stronger methodological controls. However, the absence of participant blinding and potential attention bias limit causal inference, and future studies with sham controls are needed.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
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.