Chest
Original Research: ASTHMAQuality of Life and Inflammatory Markers in Mild Asthma
Section snippets
Subjects
All patients with previous symptoms diagnosed as asthma by a general practitioner were invited to participate in the study. However, it was not possible to assess whether the diagnosis of asthma had been based on peak expiratory flow variability, a reversibility test, bronchial challenges, or on a seasonal variability of asthma symptoms. The patients visited one of four health-care centers in downtown Stockholm, Sweden, and were included in the study after having been identified in the primary
Results
Seventy-seven patients were included in the study (Table 1). Results were based on the assumption that the symptoms of asthma (that had led to diagnosis of asthma by a physician), in combination with one positive test result (bronchial responsiveness, exhaled NO, reversibility test) were sufficient to confirm the diagnosis of asthma. All test results, including methacholine challenge, dry air challenge, levels of NO in exhaled air, and reversibility to bronchodilator drugs, were normal in 8 of
Discussion
In the present study, we found no correlation between quality of life as assessed by the AQLQ and parameters such as lung function, reversibility to a bronchodilator, bronchial hyperresponsiveness to a direct and an indirect stimulus, and exhaled NO in steroid-free subjects with mild asthma. Patients were included according to three criteria: asthma diagnosed by a physician, mild disease according to a VAS (< 30 mm), and no treatment with steroids (inhaled or oral) during the last 3 months
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The authors wish to thank Professor Hans Åberg for valuable comments. The technical assistance of Kicki Olsson, RN is gratefully acknowledged.
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This study was supported by the Centre for Allergy Research at Karolinska Institutet, the Swedish Heart-Lung Foundation, and the Swedish Asthma and Allergy Association.
Reproduction of this article is prohibited without written permission from the American College of Chest Physicians (www.chestjournal.org/misc/reprints.shtml).