Respiratory Biofeedback and EEG Neurofeedback in COPD Rehabilitation
Gianvito Lagravinese, Paolo Taurisano, Giorgio Castellana, Maddalena Genco, Patrizia Guido, Federico Pasqualotto, Ruggiero Torraco, Ernesto Lulaj, Ioannis Alexandros Charitos, Mauro Carone
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a chronic respiratory disease in which dyspnea reflects not only airflow limitation but also interoceptive, affective, cognitive, autonomic, and neurophysiological processes. This protocol describes a four-arm randomized controlled pilot trial evaluating the feasibility, tolerability, and preliminary effects of respiratory biofeedback (BF), EEG neurofeedback (NF), and their combination (BF+NF) in patients with COPD undergoing inpatient pulmonary rehabilitation. Sixty participants aged 45-80 years with GOLD grades 2-4 COPD will be randomized 1:1:1:1 to BF, NF, BF+NF, or standard pulmonary rehabilitation. Active interventions will include 15 sessions over three weeks. Outcomes will include feasibility, acceptability, dyspnea, respiratory impact, cognitive functioning, anxiety and depressive symptoms, respiratory-functional parameters, and psychophysiological indices, including heart rate variability and quantitative EEG. The study will provide preliminary data on the integration of psychophysiological self-regulation procedures into pulmonary rehabilitation.
Keywords
COPD; Dyspnoea; Pulmonary rehabilitation; Biofeedback; Neurofeedback; Heart rate variability; Quantitative EEG.
