Aerobic Training Versus Behavioral Intervention to Increase Physical Activity in Patients With Asthma

The educational program will consist of 2 classes held once a week, each lasting 90 minutes. The classes will be based on an education videotape, presentations and group discussions. The first class will address the asthma education. The second class will be about the current international physical activity recommendations and the importance and benefits of being physically active. The behavioural intervention will be performed in 8 weekly goal-setting consultation, face-to-face, each lasting until 90 minutes. Patients will be offered a commercially-available activity tracker to wear during 3 days prior to each consultation. According to their own physical activity (PA) data and the behavioural change stage, an individual action plan will be established to increase physical activity. Each participant will receive individual counselling with the goal of increasing participation in PA and reducing their sedentary time.

The same initial educational program described for the Behavioral Intervention group will be delivered to this group. Each aerobic training session will consist of 45 minutes divided into 5 minutes of warm-up, 35 minutes of aerobic exercise and 5 minutes of cool-down. During physical training, heart rate and level of respiratory distress will be monitored. The intensity of aerobic physical training will be based on the heart rate (HR) corresponding to one third of the difference between the anaerobic threshold (LA) and the respiratory compensation point (CRP). The patient may interrupt physical exercise if he presents any clinical symptoms and/or respiratory discomfort, returning as soon as his respiratory condition improves.