PMC:4161609 / 4373-9255 JSONTXT

{"target":"https://pubannotation.org/docs/sourcedb/PMC/sourceid/4161609","sourcedb":"PMC","sourceid":"4161609","source_url":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/4161609","text":"Study design and patients\nA total of 252 patients diagnosed as having asthma by medical specialists (certified by either the Japanese Respiratory Society or the Japanese Allergology Society) participated in this prospective, observational study to investigate the correlations between symptoms and eosinophilic airway inflammation. All patients with asthma were enrolled consecutively, without any selection. After giving their written, informed consent, the patients answered two kinds of questionnaire: the modified F scale and the G scale (Table 1). In developing the G scale, the intention was not to use it for the diagnosis of asthma or rhinosinusitis. The goal was to evaluate chronic rhinosinusitis; but symptoms of acute rhinosinusitis and those of chronic rhinosinusitis cannot be distinguished using the G scale. Complications associated with asthma, such as rhinosinusitis, GERD, or dyspepsia, were not diagnosed by objective findings in all patients in the present study, although some patients were diagnosed, based on the findings of endoscopy or computerized tomography (CT), as part of their routine medical care. FeNO was measured in all participants, using the NIOX MINO® (Aerocrine AB, Solna, Sweden), according to the manufacturer’s instructions.\nOf the 252 patients, 2 were found not to have asthma, by a physician in charge, after they had provided their consent. They were excluded from the analysis. Two patients with asthma, who agreed to participate in this observational study, did not take any medicine for asthma, because their asthmatic symptoms were stable without treatment. These patients were also excluded from the analysis. Therefore, the data obtained from 248 patients who took controller medications for asthma were analyzed in this prospective, observational study. These 248 patients (97 males, 151 females; age range: 16–88 years; mean ± standard deviation (SD): 58.6±16.3 years) received sufficient treatment for asthma. Treatments for rhinorrhea, sneezing, nasal obstruction, olfactory dysfunction, or upper abdominal symptoms were prescribed at the physician’s discretion. Of the 248 patients, 246 had used inhaled corticosteroids (ICS): 92 used low-dose ICS, 106 used medium-dose ICS, and 48 used high-dose ICS. In addition, 50 patients were treated according to Treatment Step 2 of the Global Initiative for Asthma (GINA) guidelines, 47 patients were treated according to Treatment Step 3, 120 were treated according to Treatment Step 4, and 31 were treated according to Treatment Step 5. Long-acting beta-agonists (LABA) were used by 170 patients, leukotriene receptor antagonists were used by 86 patients, sustained release theophylline was used by 44 patients, and oral corticosteroids were used by 31 patients for asthma control. Proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) were used by 61 patients, and 6 patients took histamine H2 blockers. Forty-eight patients took histamine H1 blockers, and 31 patients used nasal corticosteroids.\nThis prospective, observational study (UMIN 000007762) was approved by the Ethics Committees of Gunma University Faculty of Medical Science (Maebashi, Japan), National Numata Hospital (Numata, Japan), Maebashi Kyoritsu Hospital (Maebashi, Japan), and Heisei Hidaka Clinic (Takasaki, Japan). This study was started on April 10, 2012 and completed on November 30, 2012.\nThe retrospective analysis for the relationship between the asthma control test (ACT) and the G scale was performed as follows. Both the ACT and the G scale had been used at the same time in the daily medical treatment of outpatients with asthma since October 2012. The data on the ACT and the G scale obtained from 128 patients (42 males, 86 females; age range: 22–88 years; mean ± SD: 60.3±16.9 years) who had been treated by controller medications for asthma from October 2012 to December 2013 (in Gunma University Hospital, Heisei Hidaka Clinic, Maebashi Kyoritsu Hospital, University of Fukui Hospital, and Fukui Sogo Clinic), were analyzed retrospectively. Of these 128 patients, 125 had used ICS (53 patients had used low-dose ICS, 37 had used medium-dose ICS, and 35 had used high-dose ICS). Three other patients were treated by a leukotriene receptor antagonist alone. LABAs were used by 104 patients, leukotriene receptor antagonists by 40 patients, sustained release theophylline by 22 patients, and oral corticosteroids by 24 patients, for asthma control. In addition, 20 patients were treated according to Treatment Step 2 in the GINA guidelines, 31 according to Treatment Step 3, 53 according to Treatment Step 4, and 24 according to Treatment Step 5. PPIs were used by 30 patients, and 1 patient took a histamine H2 blocker. Thirty-one patients took histamine H1 blockers, and nasal corticosteroids were used by 22 patients. When data were repeatedly obtained from the same patient, the latest data were used in the analysis.","divisions":[{"label":"title","span":{"begin":0,"end":25}},{"label":"p","span":{"begin":26,"end":1267}},{"label":"p","span":{"begin":1268,"end":2973}},{"label":"p","span":{"begin":2974,"end":3341}}],"tracks":[]}