Systematic Review Will Evaluate Effects of Cognitive Interventions for Patients With Chronic Respiratory Diseases

A new systematic review will evaluate the effects of cognitive interventions in individuals with chronic respiratory disease to help better guide physicians and other health care professionals in selecting strategies that are evidence-based, help increase cognitive well-being, and enhance overall health outcomes, according to a statement published in JMIR Research Protocols.

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Chronic respiratory diseases could result in brain tissue injury due to the reduced delivery of oxygen to organs and body tissues. The damage can cause neurological symptoms leading to cognitive decline, according to the authors of the review.

The systematic review is intended to assess the effects of cognitive interventions, which include cognitive behavioral therapy and transcranial brain stimulation, to help lessen the cognitive decline. It will also assess these effects on health-related quality of life, self-management, symptoms, physical activity, physical function, ability to complete activities of daily life, hospital admission, and other aspects for those with chronic respiratory diseases.

The review was initiated in November 2022 and was registered with PROSPERO in February 2023, which was prior to title abstract screenings. The full-text screening was completed in June 2023, with data extraction and drafting occurring between July 2023 and August 2023. The expected publication of the review is in February 2024, according to the authors of the study.

They stated that the review will follow the Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Intervention and follow the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines. They will use MEDLINE, Embase, Emcare, PsycINFO, Scopus, and CINAHL to search for articles that will be included in the review.

They will include articles if it focuses on the effects of cognitive interventions for adults with chronic respiratory disease, are published in peer-review journals, and are written in English, French, or Portuguese.

Investigators will include studies if the patient population included individuals aged 18 years or older, had a chronic respiratory disease diagnosis, including asthma, bronchiectasis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, cystic fibrosis, interstitial lung disease, chronic respiratory tract disease, post-COVID-19 syndrome, tuberculosis, or lung cancer. However, the study will be excluded if any individuals had a primary diagnosis of a cognitive disease or if they presented with dementia, Alzheimer, psychological disorders, stroke, or trauma, any of which can cause cognitive impairment.

Investigators will use the Cochrane Risk of Bias 2 tool for randomized controlled trials, and for nonrandomized trials, they will use the Risk of Bias in Non-randomized Studies of Interventions tool. Further, investigators will perform the meta-analyses if at least 2 of the chosen studies provide sufficient data for any of the specific outcomes. The Grading of Recommendations, Assessments, Development, and Evaluation assessment will also be used by investigators to evaluate the quality of the data of the studies included.

The study authors said that, to their knowledge, this will be the first systematic review focusing on the effects of cognitive interventions for those with chronic respiratory diseases. A strength, they noted, included the nature of the study, which will provide an objective perspective on the data, minimizing the risk of bias.

However, they did note that there will be predicted limitations, including that various types of studies will be used because the investigators are not limiting data to just randomized control trials. They said this could potentially impact the quality of the articles included in the systematic review.

References

Ryzer D, Bhatti B, Streicher A, Weinberg P, et al. Cognitive interventions in individuals with chronic respiratory siseases: protocol for a systematic review. JMIR Res Protoc. 2023;12:e48235. doi:10.2196/48235