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. 2008 Nov-Dec;186(6):361-8.
doi: 10.1007/s00408-008-9119-1. Epub 2008 Oct 9.

Lower airway disease in asthmatics with and without rhinitis

Anne E Dixon  1 , Danielle M Raymond, Benjamin T Suratt, Lorraine M Bourassa, Charles G Irvin
Affiliations

Lower airway disease in asthmatics with and without rhinitis

Anne E Dixon et al. Lung. 2008 Nov-Dec.

Abstract

Study objectives: The purpose of this study was to determine if asthma with rhinitis and asthma without rhinitis represent distinct forms of disease.

Design: We performed a prospective cross-sectional study.

Participants: The study included healthy controls, participants with asthma without rhinitis, and participants with both asthma and rhinitis. Interventions We compared lung function and airway inflammation between the three groups of participants.

Results: We recruited 32 participants: 12 normals, 8 asthmatics without rhinitis, and 12 with rhinitis. Compared to asthmatics with rhinitis, asthmatics without rhinitis had more severe airflow limitation (FEV(1)/FVC = 60.6% [IQR = 22.8] vs. 74.8% [IQR = 7.8] and fewer induced sputum eosinophils (2.8 [IQR = 5.8] and 9.6 [IQR = 23.8], respectively). Sputum interleukin-6 correlated inversely with lung function measured by postbronchodilator FEV(1) in the study cohort (Spearman correlation coefficient = -0.55, p < 0.01).

Conclusions: Asthmatics without rhinitis tend to have lower lung function and less eosinophilic inflammation in the lung. This small study suggests that asthmatics without rhinitis represent a distinct phenotype of asthma in which low lung function is dissociated from eosinophilic cellular inflammation, and it suggests that larger studies addressing this phenotype are warrented.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Induced sputum cell counts and exhaled nitric oxide levels in normal controls, asthmatics without rhinitis (asthma only) and asthmatics with rhinitis. Actual and median values are shown. P value reported for Kruskal Wallis test. Only data from induced sputum slides with less than 20% squamous epithelial cells are shown.
Figure 2
Figure 2
FEV1 % predicted post bronchodilator and induced sputum IL-6 levels in study cohort
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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