1. Characteristics of the included studies.
| Study (country) | N randomised | Intervention | Comparator | Outcomes |
Duration of intervention |
Follow‐up | Participants' baseline characteristics | ||
| Mean agea (years) | Male (%) | Asthma severity | |||||||
| Aggarwal 2013 (India) | 100 | Yoga | Inactive control (not practising yoga) | LF | 3 months | NF | NR | NR | Mild to moderate persistent |
| Agnihotri 2016 (India) | 276 | Yoga | Usual care | LF | 6 months | NF | NR | NR | Mild to moderate persistent |
| Agnihotri 2018 (India) | 300 | Yoga | Usual care | QoL | 6 months | NF | NR | NR | Mild to moderate persistent |
| Bidwell 2012 (USA) | 19 | Yoga | Inactive control (not practising yoga or any breathing exercise) | QoL, LF | 10 weeks | NF | 40.0 to 43.0 | 0 | Mild to moderate |
| Fluge 1994 (Germany) | 36 | Yoga | Inactive control (no additional treatment) | LF | 3 weeks | NF | 48.8 | 38.9 | Mild |
| Girodo 1992 (Canada) | 55 | Deep diaphragmatic breathing | Inactive control (waiting list) | Asthma symptoms | 16 weeks | 8 weeks | 28.6 to 32.9 | 40.0 | NR |
| Grammatopoulou 2011 (Greece) | 40 | Breathing retraining | Inactive control (no additional treatment) | QoL, asthma control, hyperventilation symptoms, LF, capnography | 6 months | NF | 45.4 to 48.1 | 57.5 | Mild to moderate |
| Gupta 2015 (India) | 100 | Yoga | Usual care | LF | 3 months | NF | NR | NR | NR |
| Holloway 2007 (UK) | 85 | Papworth | Usual care | QoL, hyperventilation symptoms, LF, capnography | 6 months | 6 months | 49.3 to 50.2 | 42.3 | Mild to moderate |
| Malarvizhi 2018 (India) | 250 | Yoga | Usual care | QoL | 6 months | NF | NR | 55.6 | Mild to moderate |
| Nagarathna 1985 (India) | 106 | Yoga | Usual care | LF, exacerbations | 54 months | NF | 26.4 | ||
| Prasanna 2015 (India) | 100 | Buteyko | Usual care | LF, asthma symptoms | 2 months | NF | 37.4 to 40.4 | 38.0 | NR |
| Prem 2013 (India) | 120 | Buteyko and pranayama | Usual care | QoL, asthma symptoms, LF | 3 months | NF | 35 to 41 | 39.2 | Mild to moderate |
| Pushpa 2018 (India) | 60 | Yoga | Usual care | LF | 8 weeks | NF | 31.0 to 32.7 | 33.3 | Mild to moderate |
| Satpathy 2016 (India) | 71 | Yoga | Usual care | Exacerbations, dyspnoea, asthma symptoms | 4 months | NF | 25.0 to 25.3 | 100.0 | Persistent, chronic |
| Singh 2012 (India) | 60 | Yoga | Inactive control (no additional treatment) | QoL, LF | 2 months | NF | NR | NR | Mild to moderate |
| Sodhi 2009 (India) | 120 | Yoga | Usual care | QoL, LF | 8 weeks | NF | 35.5 to 38.8 | 59.2 | Mild to moderate |
| Thomas 2003 (UK) | 33 | Breathing retraining | Asthma education | QoL, hyperventilation symptoms | 6 months | NF | 48.8 to 48.9 | 21.2 | NR |
| Thomas 2009 (UK) | 183 | Breathing retraining | Asthma education | QoL, asthma control, hyperventilation symptoms, LF, capnography | 6 months | NF | 46.0b | 45.9 | Mild to moderate |
| Thomas 2017 (UK) | 655 | Breathing retraining | Usual care | QoL, asthma control, airway inflammation, hyperventilation symptoms | 12 months | NF | 57.0 | 36.0 | Mild to moderate |
| Vedanthan 1998 (USA) | 17 | Yoga | Usual care | LF, asthma symptoms | 16 weeks | NF | 26.5 | 47.0 | Mild to moderate |
| Vempati 2009 (India) | 57 | Yoga | Usual care | QoL, LF | 8 weeks | NF | 33.4 to 33.5 | 36.8 | Mild to moderate |
| LF: lung function; N: number of participants; NF: no follow‐up; NR: not reported; QoL: quality of life | |||||||||
aRange across treatment arms reported where overall data were not reported. bMedian and IQR.