STUDY OBJECTIVES Increasing morbidity due to asthma and antimicrobial resistance among human pathogens are both major public-health concerns. Numerous studies describe the overuse of antibiotics in general populations and underuse of anti-inflammatory medications by asthmatic patients. However, little is known about the relationship between asthma medication and antibiotic use in asthmatics. Sp...

BACKGROUND Perception of bronchoconstriction varies between individuals and its determinants remain to be identified. The perception of airflow obstruction and breathlessness during induced bronchoconstriction was studied, and the effects of anxiety, repetition of the stimulus, and bronchodilator needs on these measurements were examined in normal and asthmatic subjects. METHODS Fifteen norma...

The measurement of rapid regional lung volume changes by electrical impedance tomography (EIT) could determine regional lung function in patients with obstructive lung diseases during pulmonary function testing (PFT). EIT examinations carried out before and after bronchodilator reversibility testing could detect the presence of spatial and temporal ventilation heterogeneities and analyse their ...

BACKGROUND In the context of increasing attention to medical errors, missed therapies have become a subject of focus both for optimizing clinical care and for assuring appropriate institutional performance during external review by accrediting bodies. Because the issue of missed treatments in respiratory therapy has received little attention to date, we undertook to describe the frequency and c...

INTRODUCTION There is clinical evidence suggesting that original salbutamol is more effective than a similar salbutamol product to revert symptoms in acute asthma exacerbation.. OBJECTIVE To evaluate the bronchodilator response of both salbutamol medicinal products in children with asthma and to establish, based on the forced expiratory volume, if there is a difference between the group treat...

OBJECTIVE To use the forced oscillation technique to evaluate asthma patients presenting positive bronchodilator responses (confirmed through spirometry) and compare the results with those obtained in healthy individuals. METHODS The study sample consisted of 53 non-smoking volunteers: 24 healthy subjects with no history of pulmonary disease and 29 asthmatics presenting positive bronchodilato...

Forced expiratory flow (FEF) at low lung volumes are supposed to be better at detecting lung-function impairment in asthmatic children than a forced volume. The aim of this study was to examine whether FEF results could modify the interpretation of baseline and post-bronchodilator spirometry in asthmatic schoolchildren in whom forced expiratory volumes are within the normal range. Spirometry, w...

Previous reports suggest that regular use of beta-agonists does not lead to tolerance to their bronchodilator effects. However, most studies have been conducted in stable asthma. This study investigates whether bronchodilator tolerance can be demonstrated during acute bronchoconstriction. Thirty-four asthmatic subjects were treated with 6 weeks inhaled terbutaline (1 mg q.i.d.), budesonide (400...

Structured light plethysmography (SLP) is a light-based, noncontact technique that measures tidal breathing by monitoring displacements of the thoracoabdominal (TA) wall. We used SLP to measure tidal breathing parameters and their within-subject variability (v) in 30 children aged 7-16 years with asthma and abnormal spirometry (forced expiratory volume in 1 sec [FEV1] <80% predicted) during a r...

Primary-care spirometry has been promoted as a method of facilitating accurate diagnosis of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). The present study examined whether improving rates of diagnosis lead to improvements in pharmacological and nonpharmacological management. From 1999 to 2003, the current authors provided an open-access spirometry and reversibility service to a local primary-c...