[The non-medicamentous methods for the prevention and treatment of the patients presenting with neurocirculatory asthenia and concomitant enhanced meteosensitivity].

OBJECTIVE: The relevance of the problem stated in the title of this article comes from the significant increase in the prevalence of the functional cardiovascular disorders having been documented during the past years especially such as circulatory asthenia that most frequently affects the young people of the working age suffering from the systemic neurogenic imbalance in the organism and can be seriously aggravated by the influence of biotropic weather conditions and be responsible for enhanced meteosensitivity that has negative effect on the quality of life and impairs the effectiveness of the therapeutic interventions.

AIM:  The objective of the present study was to provide the scientifically sound substantiation of the feasibility of the application of the non-medicamentous methods (including the interval hypoxic training and «dry» carbonic baths) for the prevention and treatment of neurocirculatory asthenia complicated by enhanced meteosensitivity and evaluate the therapeutic effectiveness of these approach.

MATERIAL AND METHODS:  A total of 50 patients with the verified diagnosis of neurocirculatory asthenia were recruited to participate in the study. All the patients were divided into two groups. 62% of them exhibited the well apparent meteosensitivity and were included in the study group 1. Group 2 was comprised of the remaining patients (38% of their total number) presenting with neurocirculatory asthenia who did not suffer appreciable changes in the general physical and mental state under the influence of varying weather conditions. The patients of both groups received the identical combined treatment consisting of interval hypoxic training and taking «dry» carbonic baths. Monitoring of the main meteorological parameters was carried out on a daily basis. It was combined with the assessment of the weather conditions from the medical perspective, the evaluation of the physical performance capability of the patients based on the results of the veloergometric testing, and the estimation of their functional state of the autonomous nervous system with the use of the data obtained in cardiointervalographic studies. In addition, the state of the microcirculatory system was evaluated by means of laser Doppler flowmetry and making use of a capillary blood flow analyzer. The psychological status of the patients was characterized using a computer-generated version of the abridged multifactorial questionnaire for the elucidation of the manifest personality-scale anxiety (Spielbeger's State-Trait Anxiety Inventory). All these studies were carried out both before and after the course of non-medicamentous therapy.

RESULTS:  After the course of the combined non-medicamentous treatment had been completed the health status of the patients comprising the two groups was found to be improved as appeared from the decrease of the number and severity of subjective autonomous manifestations, the positive changes in the functional state of the cardiovascular system and the autonomic nervous system as well as in the general psychological status. The most clinically significant result of the treatment included the reduction in the incidence of the severe meteopathic reactions in the patients of group 2 (from 14% before to 3% after therapy). The frequency of moderately expressed meteopathic reactions likewise decreased (from 31% before to 14% after the treatment).

CONCLUSIONS:  The study has demonstrated that under the environmental and climatic conditions of the of Moscow region formation of biotropic weather factors of the hypoxic type (39%) constitutes a serious risk factor contributing to the development of imbalance in the vegetative nervous system and its exacerbations in response to variations of weather parameters. The application of the non-medicamentous therapeutic modalities (including interval hypoxic training and «dry» carbonic baths) for the management of the meteosensitive patients presenting with neurocirculatory asthenia is pathogenetically justified, and they can be recommended for both the treatment and prevention of weather- dependent pathological processes and their exacerbations.