PMC:4161609 / 2348-4362 JSONTXT

{"project":"2_test","denotations":[{"id":"25228816-17050557-55570422","span":{"begin":213,"end":214},"obj":"17050557"},{"id":"25228816-22449663-55570423","span":{"begin":445,"end":446},"obj":"22449663"},{"id":"25228816-21781135-55570424","span":{"begin":517,"end":518},"obj":"21781135"},{"id":"25228816-10478602-55570425","span":{"begin":529,"end":530},"obj":"10478602"},{"id":"25228816-8705638-55570426","span":{"begin":531,"end":532},"obj":"8705638"},{"id":"25228816-19118263-55570427","span":{"begin":576,"end":577},"obj":"19118263"},{"id":"25228816-15565409-55570428","span":{"begin":1033,"end":1034},"obj":"15565409"},{"id":"25228816-22414314-55570429","span":{"begin":1145,"end":1146},"obj":"22414314"},{"id":"25228816-21885636-55570430","span":{"begin":1654,"end":1655},"obj":"21885636"}],"text":"Introduction\nPharmacological treatment is the mainstay of management for most patients with asthma. Guideline-based management results in significant improvement in health-related quality of life in most patients.1 Although the goal of therapy is to control asthma by reducing impairment and risk, many patients seem to continue to have some asthma symptoms, such as cough, phlegm, or dyspnea, when asked about their symptoms on a questionnaire.2 Some important complications that occur with asthma, such as rhinitis,3 sinusitis,4,5 and gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD),6 are known to affect asthma symptoms. These complications may make bronchial inflammation worse, because asthma symptoms are mainly caused by airway inflammation. Whether these complications directly affect the intensity of bronchial inflammation continues to be an unanswered question.\nThe frequency scale for the symptoms of GERD (F scale) is the standard questionnaire used in Japan for the diagnosis of GERD and assessment of the response to treatment.7 Recently, the F scale was modified by adding two questions on interdigestive and postprandial epigastric pain.8 We imitated the F scale and developed a new questionnaire, the Frequency Scale for the Symptoms of Asthma and Rhinosinusitis Developed in Gunma (G scale), to assess the symptoms of asthma and rhinosinusitis in adult patients with asthma. The relationships between asthma symptoms and the symptoms that come from the complications were investigated using both the modified F scale and the G scale.\nMeasurement of fractional exhaled nitric oxide (FeNO), a surrogate marker of eosinophilic airway inflammation,9 is slowly becoming part of the routine clinical evaluation of asthmatic patients in Japan. In this study, whether the symptoms of rhinosinusitis or upper abdominal symptoms were related to eosinophilic airway inflammation, and which symptoms in asthmatic patients were related to eosinophilic inflammation during treatment for asthma, were also investigated."}