The Role of PFT and FeNO in Bronchial Asthma Patients: A Cross Sectional Study
Author(s): Preethi and Koushik Muthu Raja Mathivanan*
Abstract
Background: Asthma is a heterogeneous disease, usually characterized bychronic airway inflammation. The dominant physiological event leading to clinical symptoms in asthma is airway narrowing and a subsequent interference with airflow. The present study aimed to find the correlation of pulmonary function test (PFT) and fractional exhaled nitric oxide (FeNO) in patients with bronchial asthma.
Materials and methods: A total of 50 patients in the age range between 18 years and 60 years of both the genders were included in this prospective study. Those patients who attended the Pulmonology OPD between August 2016 and August 2017 at Sri Ramachandra Institute of Higher Education and Research, Chennai, India were included for the study. A detailed history and physical examination was done for all the participants followed by the questionnaire survey which is administered in the language
that they understand.
Results: A total of 50 patients in the age group of 20-44 years diagnosed with bronchial asthma were considered. Based on the value of FeV1 14(28%) patients had mild, 19(38%) patients had moderate, 15(30%) patients had moderately severe and 2(4%) patients had severe degrees of severity. In the study population, 14(28%) patients had low, 27(54%) patients had Intermediate and 9(18%) patients had high FeNO levels. While considering the statistical correlation between FEV1 and FeNO value, the Pearson’s correlation revealed the r value to be -0.87 with significant p value. The Pearson’s chi square test revealed a statistical significance (p=0.001) in the data distribution of FeNO in FeV1.
Conclusion: The present study supports the association between FeNO levels with bronchial asthma severity.