Evidence map›Paper›PMID 21143887›Full record

ReviewBMC pulmonary medicine2010

An integrative review of systematic reviews related to the management of breathlessness in respiratory illnesses.

Chris D Bailey, Richard Wagland, Rasha Dabbour, Ann Caress, Jaclyn Smith, Alex Molassiotis

Open access · goldAbstract readReview
In one paragraph

Review in BMC pulmonary medicine, 2010. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
14citing papers in PubMed, 3 pooled it
2.4field-weighted citation impact, top 11% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

14 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 30 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Mind-body interventions for cancer-related dyspnoea: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2025
    Pooled it
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  4. The effect of resistance inspiratory muscle training in the management of breathlessness in patients with thoracic malignancies: a feasibility randomised trial.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2015
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  14. Considerations in developing and delivering a non-pharmacological intervention for symptom management in lung cancer: the views of health care professionals.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2012
    Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.

Chris D BaileyFaculty of Health Sciences, University of Southampton, Highfield, Southampton, SO17 1BJ, UK. c.d.bailey@soton.ac.uk
Richard Wagland
Rasha Dabbour
Ann Caress
Jaclyn Smith
Alex Molassiotis
University of Southampton · GBUniversity of Manchester · GB

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundBreathlessness is a debilitating and distressing symptom in a wide variety of diseases and still a difficult symptom to manage. An integrative review of systematic reviews of non-pharmacological and pharmacological interventions for breathlessness in non-malignant disease was undertaken to identify the current state of clinical understanding of the management of breathlessness and highlight promising interventions that merit further investigation.

methodsSystematic reviews were identified via electronic databases between July 2007 and September 2009. Reviews were included within the study if they reported research on adult participants using either a measure of breathlessness or some other measure of respiratory symptoms.

resultsIn total 219 systematic reviews were identified and 153 included within the final review, of these 59 addressed non-pharmacological interventions and 94 addressed pharmacological interventions. The reviews covered in excess of 2000 trials. The majority of systematic reviews were conducted on interventions for asthma and COPD, and mainly focussed upon a small number of pharmacological interventions such as corticosteroids and bronchodilators, including beta-agonists. In contrast, other conditions involving breathlessness have received little or no attention and studies continue to focus upon pharmacological approaches. Moreover, although there are a number of non-pharmacological studies that have shown some promise, particularly for COPD, their conclusions are limited by a lack of good quality evidence from RCTs, small sample sizes and limited replication.

conclusionsMore research should focus in the future on the management of breathlessness in respiratory diseases other than asthma and COPD. In addition, pharmacological treatments do not completely manage breathlessness and have an added burden of side effects. It is therefore important to focus more research on promising non-pharmacological interventions.

Indexed as

Systematic Reviews as TopicAdrenal Cortex HormonesAsthmaBronchodilator AgentsDyspneaHumansLung Diseases, ObstructivePulmonary Disease, Chronic ObstructiveAdrenal Cortex HormonesBronchodilator Agents

Identifiers

PMID21143887
PMCPMC3016307
OpenAlexW2129646948

What Socratic holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.