Comparing the Effect of Virtual Reality and Rhythmic Breathing on the Physiologic Parameters of Patient’s Candidate for Angiography: A Clinical Trial Study

Anxiety in patients under Coronary Angiography leads to changes in cardiopulmonary parameters. The current study aimed to compare the effect of virtual reality and rhythmic breathing on the physiological parameters of patients undergoing coronary angiography.

In this clinical trial, 90 patients admitted to the cardiac care ward were studied in 2019-2020. They were selected by convenience sampling and randomly allocated into three groups: virtual reality, rhythmic breathing and control. Virtual reality and rhythmic breathing groups received intervention and the control group received routine care. Systolic and diastolic blood pressure, heart rate; respiration rate and arterial oxygen saturation were measured before, half an hour and one hour after the intervention in three groups.

Findings revealed that the pattern of changes of the mean of respiration and heart rate was significantly different in all the three stages of measures in the three groups (P˂0.001). In the case of systolic and diastolic blood pressure and arterial oxygen saturation, the pattern of changes did not show a significant difference in the three groups (P>0.05).

The use of these methods can lead to modification of some physiological parameters. This means nurses can use these methods as non-invasive, without side effects, cheap and applicable methods in order to improve patients’ physiological parameters.