Asthma: analysis of changes in respiratory function helps predict the risk

Analysis of changes in respiratory function provides help to predict the risk of asthma attacks and optimize treatment, suggests an international study published in Nature.

This is the first time that researchers establish such a predictive model, Nature noted in a statement.

Asthma is a chronic disease subject to complex interactions of endogenous and environmental factors that lead to significant variations in airflow obstruction over time, remember Urs Frey of the University Hospital of Bern and his American colleagues, New Zealand and British.

These fluctuations result in wheezing, dyspnea and cough may be severe to threaten the patient's life. Predict asthma attacks would be beneficial for the patient, but this would require precise knowledge of the changes in lung function over time, especially in the long term, which has not been studied so far.

To develop a model to predict the crisis, the researchers used data from a clinical trial evaluating the asthma control in 165 patients treated with either a beta-2 agonist short-acting once daily or a beta-2 agonist long-acting twice daily, or placebo. All patients were all more an inhaled corticosteroid.

They analyzed the changes in bronchial obstruction from the peak expiratory flow (PEF), measured twice a day over a year and a half to see if it was possible to predict a worsening of the airway obstruction.

According to the results, the regular use of a beta-2 agonist long duration of action is associated with a reduced risk of asthma, suggesting that this type of product stabilizes lung function in the long term, while Regular use of an agonist short action-reflecting poor asthma control, is associated with an increased risk.

It appears that the fluctuations of DEP over time differed significantly between patients with mild asthma and those with severe asthma, the latter having an unstable respiratory function.

The researchers speculate that when the disease becomes more severe, the airways become more sensitive to seemingly innocuous environmental factors such as small amounts of pollutants or allergens, minor viral infections, which then trigger a severe and unexpected crisis causing severe airway obstruction.