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Original Articles |
Identification of subsets of patients with chronic obstructive lung disease (COLD) in order to determine disease outcomes and, possibly, the effects of treatment is an area of clinical interest. At present, it remains unclear which patients with COLD are most likely to benefit from anti-inflammatory therapy. We investigated this question in a community-dwelling sample of men. In this study, the relationship of chronic respiratory symptoms, airway responsiveness to methacholine, and skin test reactivity to peripheral-blood eosinophil and neutrophil counts was examined among 894 male participants in the Normative Aging Study (mean age 60 yrs; range 41-90 yrs). The symptoms considered were asthma, persistent wheeze, dyspnoea, chronic cough and phlegm. Responsiveness to methacholine was defined as a provocative dose producing a 20% fall in forced expiratory volume in one second (PD20FEV1) of < or = 8.6 mumol, a positive skin test as a wheal diameter of > or = 5 mm after subtraction of the diameter of any wheal reaction to a glycerin control, and eosinophilia as an eosinophil count of > or = 275 cells.mm-3 in peripheral blood. Chronic symptoms (odds ratio (OR) 2.0; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.4-2.7), airway responsiveness (OR 1.7; CI 1.1-2.7), and the combination of symptoms and airway responsiveness (OR 3.4; CI 2.0-5.6) were positively and significantly related to peripheral-blood eosinophil counts. These relationships remained significant after adjustment for the effects of age and smoking, and after exclusion of asthmatic subjects. Symptoms and airway responsiveness combined were not significantly related to neutrophil counts.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
This article has been cited by other articles:
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  L.-P. Boulet Asymptomatic Airway Hyperresponsiveness: A Curiosity or an Opportunity to Prevent Asthma? Am. J. Respir. Crit. Care Med., February 1, 2003; 167(3): 371 - 378. [Full Text] [PDF]
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 J. Schwartz, C. Schindler, E. Zemp, A. P. Perruchoud, J.-P. Zellweger, B. Wuthrich, P. Leuenberger, and U. Ackermann-Liebrich Predictors of Methacholine Responsiveness in a General Population* Chest, September 1, 2002; 122(3): 812 - 820. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
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D. F. JANSEN, J. P. SCHOUTEN, J. M. VONK, B. RIJCKEN, W. TIMENS, J. KRAAN, S. T. WEISS, and D. S. POSTMA Smoking and Airway Hyperresponsiveness Especially in the Presence of Blood Eosinophilia Increase the Risk to Develop Respiratory Symptoms . A 25-year Follow-up Study in the General Adult Population Am. J. Respir. Crit. Care Med., July 1, 1999; 160(1): 259 - 264. [Abstract] [Full Text]
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M. KOHLHÄUFL, P. BRAND, G. SCHEUCH, T. S. MEYER, H. SCHULZ, K. HÄUSSINGER, and J. HEYDER Increased Fine Particle Deposition in Women with Asymptomatic Nonspecific Airway Hyperresponsiveness Am. J. Respir. Crit. Care Med., March 1, 1999; 159(3): 902 - 906. [Abstract] [Full Text]
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D. F. JANSEN, B. RIJCKEN, J. P. SCHOUTEN, J. KRAAN, S. T. WEISS, W. TIMENS, and D. S. POSTMA The Relationship of Skin Test Positivity, High Serum Total IgE Levels, and Peripheral Blood Eosinophilia to Symptomatic and Asymptomatic Airway Hyperresponsiveness Am. J. Respir. Crit. Care Med., March 1, 1999; 159(3): 924 - 931. [Abstract] [Full Text]
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