Resumen

REAL GONZALEZ, Yanely; LOPEZ HERNANDEZ, Mayda Nelia; DIAZ MARQUEZ, Roberto  y  CABRERA GOMEZ, José Antonio. Effectiveness of a respiratory rehabilitation program on patients with multiple sclerosis. Rev Cubana Salud Pública [online]. 2011, vol.37, n.1. ISSN 0864-3466.

Introduction People with multiple sclerosis present with altered oral communication related to respiratory failure, which forces the speech therapists to work on this problem within their range of specialty. Objective To evaluate the effectiveness la efectividad) of an intensive respiratory rehabilitation program. Methods Quasi-experimental interventional study carried out in a group of 30 adults of both sexes suffering from multiple sclerosis. All these patients were included in the program for 4 weeks, having one-hour training every day. For assessing the effectiveness of the program, an initial and a final evaluation of the forced vital inspiratory and expiratory capacity and of the phonorespiratory coordination was made by outside experts. The neurological deterioration was measured according the Kurtzke´s extended disability scale. Results Women predominated in the sample; the average age was 40.43 ± 11.46 years and progression of disease was 13.40 ± 7.76 years. Progressive multiple sclerosis was found in 22 patients and the onset-remission forms in 8 patients. The neurological deterioration amounted to 5.8 (±1.51) as an average, which speaks for the moderate disability rate present in the simple. There was observed increased vital forced inspiratory and expiratory capacities and increase in maximum phonation length and in pronouncing series of two-syllable words and series of numbers. Conclusions The intensive respiratory rehabilitation program helps to increase the respiratory capacity of the patients with multiple sclerosis, hence, its implementation in the neurorehabilitation process is recommended.

Palabras clave : Multiple sclerosis; speech therapist; respiratory rehabilitation; communication.

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