A clinical study to determine the threshold of bronchodilator response for diagnosing asthma in Chinese children.

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND:There is few objective, clinically feasible and inexpensive test for diagnosing childhood asthma. We want to find an ideal way to solve it. METHODS:The control group was 301 non-asthmatic children, and the asthma group was 286 asthmatic children. The asthmatic children were divided into three groups according to the severity of their disease. Pre- and post-bronchodilator spirometer tests were performed, and the main spirometer parameters were compared. The bronchodilator response (BDR) [BDR is used to determine the reversibility of airway obstruction by measuring the changes of forced expiratory volume in the first second (FEV1) before and after inhalation of bronchodilators] was then determined, and the optimal threshold of BDR for diagnosing childhood asthma was found. RESULTS:301 non-asthmatic children and 286 asthmatic children participated in the study, the demographics were similar. FEV1 for pre-bronchodilator of asthmatic children was significantly lower than that of non-asthmatic children (P???0.01). BDR of non-asthmatic children was 3.30?±?3.85%. BDR of asthmatic children was 9.45?±?9.15%. There was no significant difference in BDR for patients with different severities of asthma within the group. BDR had no statistical correlation with gender, age, height, weight in neither non-asthmatic children nor asthmatic children. On the receiver-operating characteristic curve, a BDR threshold of ??7.5% offered an optimal balance in asthma diagnosis with a sensitivity rate of 50.7% and specificity rate of 87.7%. Meanwhile, with a BDR threshold of ??12%, the sensitivity rate was 28.7% and the specificity rate was 96.3%. CONCLUSION:A BDR threshold of ??7.5% has more value in childhood asthma diagnosis as compared to ??12%.

SUBMITTER: Kang XH 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6872507 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature