| Homepage | Patterns | CO2 effects | Diseases | Causes | Retraining | "Survival" | Teaching | Products | Map |
Abbreviations for the Table: "max" - maximum; "in" - inhalation; "out" - outhale or exhalation; "norm" - normal.
| Condition | # of subj. |
CP, s |
BHT, s |
Test conditions (order of actions before BHT test) |
% of BHT for CP |
Reference |
| Hypertension | 95 | 12 s | 12 s | Norm out, stress | 100% | Ayman et al, 1939 |
| Neurocircular. asthenia | 54 | 16 s | 40 s | Max in | 40% | Friedman, 1945 |
| Anxiety states | 62 | 20 s | 28 s | Norm in | 73% | Mirsky et al, 1946 |
| Class 1 heart patients | 16 | 16 s | 48 s | Max: in, out, in | 33.3% | Kohn & Cutcher, 1970 |
| Class 2-3 heart patients | 53 | 13 s | 39 s | Max: in, out, in | 33.3% | Kohn & Cutcher, 1970 |
| Pulmonary emphysema | 3 | 8 s | 23 s | Max: in, out, in | 33.3% | Kohn & Cutcher, 1970 |
| Functional heart disease | 13 | 5 s | 15 s | Max: in, out, in | 33.3% | Kohn & Cutcher, 1970 |
| Asymptom. asthmatics | 7 | 20 s | 55 s | Max out, max in | 38 % | Davidson et al, 1974 |
| Asthmatics with sympt | 13 | 11 s | 27 s | Max in | 40 % | Perez-Padilla .., 1989 |
| Panic attack | 14 | 11 s | 34 s | Deep breath:50%O2 | 33.3% | Zandbergen .., 1992 |
| Anxiety disorders | 14 | 16 s | 49 s | Deep breath:50%O2 | 33.3% | Zandbergen .., 1992 |
| Outpatients | 25 | 17 s | 43 s | Max in | 40 % | Gay et al, 1994 |
| Inpatients | 25 | 10 s | 25 s | Max in | 40 % | Gay et al, 1994 |
| COPD or CHF | 7 | 8 s | 21 s | Max in | 40 % | Gay et al, 1994 |
| 12 heavy smokers | 12 | 8 s | 21 s | Max in | 40 % | Gay et al, 1994 |
| Panic disorder | 23 | 16 s | 16 s | Norm out | 100% | Asmudson..., 1994 |
| Sleep apnoea | 30 | 20 s | 20 s | Norm out | 100% | Taskar et al, 1995 |
| Success. lung transpl. | 9 | 23 s | 23 s | Norm out | 100% | Flume et al, 1996 |
| Success. heart transpl. | 8 | 28 s | 28 s | Norm out | 100% | Flume et al, 1996 |
| Outpatients with COPD | 87 | 8 s | 9.2 s | Norm out, supine | 90% | Marks et al, 1997 |
| Asthma | 55 | 14 s | 24 | Norm out, trained | 60 % | Nannini et al, 2007 |
Notes. * “Handbook of physiology”, after analysing numerous relevant
publications, suggested the following proportions for BHT measurements (Mithoefer,
1965). If BHT after full inhalation is 100%; then BHT after normal inhalation is
55%; BHT after normal exhalation is 40%; BHT after full exhalation is 24%.
Taking an additional full exhalation or inhalation before starting the test
increases BHT by about 5 or 15% respectively for each manoeuvre. Subjects, who
have repetitive breath holds in a day, experience the “training” effect that
gradually increases maximum breath holding time (up to 30%), but the BHT test
done until first stress or initial discomfort is not improved using such
training. This information allows us to compare different BHT tests done during
almost a century of clinical investigations, if we use some standard conditions
for the test. In order to do that, let me introduce the CP (Control Pause): the
CP is BHT after quiet or usual expiration and only until first sensation of
air-hunger (a stress-free version of the test). For people who practiced breath
holding many times per day, BHT for as long as possible after usual exhalation
is about 2 times longer then the CP due to the “training effect”. For naïve
people, it is only about 30% greater.
**. Zandbergen et al, 1992 conducted their experiments with the mixture of 50%
O2 and 50% N2. According to Ferris with his colleagues (1945), such mixture
increases normal BHT by about 50%.
Ayman et al, 1939
Ayman D, Goldshine AD, The breath-holding test. A simple standard stimulus of blood pressure, Archives of Intern Medicine 1939, 63; p. 899-906.
Friedman, 1945
Friedman M, Studies concerning the aetiology and pathogenesis of neurocirculatory asthenia III. The cardiovascular manifestations of neurocirculatory asthenia, Am Heart J 1945; 30, 378-391.
Mirsky et al, 1946
Mirsky I A, Lipman E, Grinker R R, Breath-holding time in anxiety state, Federation proceedings 1946; 5: p. 74.
Kohn & Cutcher, 1970
Kohn RM & Cutcher B, Breath-holding time in the screening for rehabilitation potential of cardiac patients, Scand J Rehabil Med 1970; 2(2): p. 105-107.
Davidson et al, 1974
Davidson JT, Whipp BJ, Wasserman K, Koyal SN, Lugliani R, Role of the carotid bodies in breath-holding, New England Journal of Medicine 1974 April 11; 290(15): p. 819-822.
Perez-Padilla et al, 1989
Perez-Padilla R, Cervantes D, Chapela R, Selman M, Rating of breathlessness at rest during acute asthma: correlation with spirometry and usefulness of breath-holding time, Rev Invest Clin 1989 Jul-Sep; 41(3): p. 209-213.
Zandbergen et al, 1992
Zandbergen J, Strahm M, Pols H, Griez EJ, Breath-holding in panic disorder, Compar Psychiatry 1992 Jan-Feb; 33(1): p. 47-51.
Gay et al, 1994
Gay SB, Sistrom C1L, Holder CA, Suratt PM, Breath-holding capability of adults. Implications for spiral computed tomography, fast-acquisition magnetic resonance imaging, and angiography, Invest Radiol 1994 Sep; 29(9): p. 848-851.
Asmudson & Stein, 1994
Asmundson GJ & Stein MB, Triggering the false suffocation alarm in panic disorder patients by using a voluntary breath-holding procedure, Am J Psychiatry 1994 Feb; 151(2): p. 264-266.
Taskar et al, 1995
Taskar V, Clayton N, Atkins M, Shaheen Z, Stone P, Woodcock A, Breath-holding time in normal subjects, snorers, and sleep apnea patients, Chest 1995 Apr; 107(4): p. 959-962.
Flume et al, 1996
Flume PA, Eldridge FL, Edwards LJ, Mattison LE, Relief of the 'air hunger' of breathholding. A role for pulmonary stretch receptors, Respir Physiol 1996 Mar; 103(3): p. 221-232.
Marks et al, 1997
Marks B, Mitchell DG, Simelaro JP, Breath-holding in healthy and pulmonary-compromised populations: effects of hyperventilation and oxygen inspiration, J Magn Reson Imaging 1997 May-Jun; 7(3): p. 595-597.
Nannini et al, 2007
Nannini LJ, Zaietta GA, Guerrera AJ, Varela JA, Fernandez AM, Flores DM, Breath-holding test in subjects with near-fatal asthma. A new index for dyspnea perception, Respiratory Medicine 2007, 101; p.246–253.