CORRELATION BETWEEN SYMPTOM SCORE, WHEEZE, REVERSIBILITY OF PULMONARY FUNCTION TESTS an‎d TREATMENT RESPONSE IN ASTHMA

Asthma management is a major concern because some asthmatic patients either do not respond or else hardly respond to treatment. Therefore in the present study, an attempt has been made to determine the predictors of treatment response in asthmatic patients. Thirty six asthmatic adults including 13 male and 23 female were studied during a 3 month treatment period. Asthma symptom score (SS) and wheezing were recorded before and after treatment. Pulmonary function tests (PFTs) including forced vital capacity (FVC), forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV,), peak expiratory flow (PEF), maximal expiratory measured at the beginning and the end of the study. The increase in PFT values 10 min after 200 pg inhaled salbutamol (in percentage) was considered as reversibility in airway constriction. There were significant improvements in SS (pO.OOl) and PFT variables (/?<0.05 to /?<0.001) except of MEF75 due to 3 months treatment. However, the reversibility of airway constriction improved after treatment but these improvements were not statistically significant except that of PEF (p<0.05). There were significant correlations between both baseline symptom score and wheeze with an improvement seen in these two parameters (p<0.05 to p(0.001). There were also significant correlations between reversibility in FEVj with improvement in FEVj and MEF25 aftet treatment and between reversibility in PEF and improvement in FEV, at end of the study (/?<0.05 to /?<0.001). The results of these study showed that a well conducted therapeutic program could lead to improvement in symptoms, wheeze, and PFT values. In addition symptom score, wheeze, and reversibility in FEV1 and PEF could be good indicators of response to treatment in asthma.