The Importance of Spirometry in the Assessment of Childhood Asthma

Aerosol bolus dispersion and effective airway diameters in mildly asthmatic children

“…This indicates the presence of altered convective gas transport in the diseased lung (see "Pathophysiological aspects"). In the present study, the most sensitive conventional lung function parameters to distinguish between healthy and asthmatic children were FEV 1 /FVC and MEF50, which is in agreement with data from the literature [18,23,24]. A comparable sensitivity was found for the standard deviation of boluses exhaled from shallow lung depths (cf.…”

The bronchoprotective effect of inhaled salmeterol in preschool children: a dose-ranging study

“…The subnormal results were evenly distributed between the treatment groups. These patients may represent asthma cases with insufficient maintenance medication, but the figures are, however, lower than reported by other authors [9,12,16,17]. Moreover, severely decreased values were not present at all, and in the clinical evaluation only three children had severe asthma symptoms.…”

“…The most sensitive variable, MMEF, was decreased in 17%, and it rose significantly in the bronchodilatation test in 10% of the subjects. In previous studies, 17±26% of asthmatic children have had decreased MMEF, 29% diagnostic rises in MMEF, 2% decreased PEF, 8% decreased FEV1, and 48% a >20% diurnal variation in PEF [9,12,16,17]. In a recent study from northern Finland, 23% of children had a significant rise in FEV1 and 29% in MMEF values [12].…”

Asthma treatment in schoolchildren: lung function in different therapeutic groups

“…The most sensitive variable, MMEF, was decreased in 18%0 of subjects (14,15). These figures are clearly lower than those presented in previous studies (10,16,17). Of apparently well asthmatic children, 17% have been found to have a pathological FEV% level, 54% a pathological MMEF level, and 48% a greater than 20% diurnal variation in PEF (16,17).…”

“…These figures are clearly lower than those presented in previous studies (10,16,17). Of apparently well asthmatic children, 17% have been found to have a pathological FEV% level, 54% a pathological MMEF level, and 48% a greater than 20% diurnal variation in PEF (16,17). The proportion of children on long-term cromoglycate or nedocromil therapy was 57% of the total patients, and 71% of those requiring maintenance therapy.…”