Usefulness of a 4-Grade Novel Mouthpiece Device for Increased Mouth Pressure Reproducing Artificial Difficulty in Breathing

Objective: The use of a novel 4-grade mouthpiece device to reproduce difficulty in breathing was assessed in healthy individuals.

Methods: A double-blind, randomized, crossover-controlled trial was conducted to investigate the efficacy and safety of the device with increasing mouth pressure. The modified Borg (mBorg) scale values, respiratory system resistance at 5 Hz (R5), and forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV₁) were assessed while using the device.

Materials: The four grades of breathing difficulty device were tested in 32 healthy participants.

Results: The 4-grade device linearly worsened the mBorg scale with increasing mouth pressure. The mean R5 (± standard deviation [SD]) with grade I, II, III, and IV devices were 5.6 ± 0.1, 10.3 ± 0.3, 21.5 ± 0.7, and 54.8 ± 2.0 kPa/L/s, respectively. The mean %FEV₁ predicted (± SD) were 83.6 ± 15.9% with grade I, 55.3 ± 11.8% with grade II, 32.0 ± 6.1% with grade III, and 15.3 ± 3.2% with the grade IV device. The mBorg scale was positively correlated with R5 (r = 0.79, p < 0.0001) and negatively with %FEV₁ predicted (r = -0.81, p < 0.0001). No severe adverse events were reported during the trial.

Conclusion: We demonstrated that the novel device could effectively reproduce the semi-quantitative artificial difficulty in breathing safely and easily in healthy individuals. These devices could be helpful to understand the mechanisms of difficulty in breathing.