Abstract
The subjects comprised 31 adults: 10 adults with clinically stable asthma (five males and five females), 11 clinically stable adult patients with mild to severe COPD (seven males and four females), and 10 healthy adult control subjects (five males and five females). The patients with obstructive pulmonary disease were classified by spirometry, according to the degree of airway obstruction.
The COPD and asthma subjects exhibited various degrees of airway obstruction, which we classified and then used in order to assess the impact of various degrees of bronchial obstruction on the function of the diaphragm. Asthma patients enrolled in our study had good long-term control of the disease.
Stability of disease was defined by stability of the pulmonary function and by low symptom scores and exhaled nitric oxide levels (FeNO). ACT (asthma control test) of the asthma probands was 22.2+-2.04.
The dose of the inhaled steroids was 1280+-900.4 μg daily, 9 of 10 asthma probands simultaneously receiving LABA (long acting beta agonists) and 4 of them LTRA (leucotrien receptor antagonists). Duration of disease in asthma probands was 10.5+-6.3 years.