In this preliminary research from The Netherlands, the authors aimed to develop a small airways dysfunction tool (SADT) to identify asthma patients having small airways dysfunction. SADT was based on interviews and pulmonary function tests.Asthma patients with and without SAD were interviewed (10 interviews, 2 focus groups). Patients were selected to participate in this study based on FEF50% and R5-R20 values from spirometry and impulse oscillometry.
Patients with small airways dysfunction reported to wheeze easily, were unable to breathe in deeply, mentioned more symptoms related to bronchial hyperresponsiveness, experienced more pronounced exercise-induced symptoms and more frequently had allergic respiratory symptoms after exposure to cats and birds. 63 items will be further explored for the SADT in the future. The authors will attempt to validate all 63 items in order to retain the most relevant ones and create a shorter, simple tool to identify asthma patients with small airways dysfunction.
References:
Development of a tool to recognize small airways dysfunction in asthma (SADT).
Schiphof-Godart L, van der Wiel E, Ten Hacken N, van den Berge M, Postma DS, van der Molen T. Health Qual Life Outcomes. 2014 Nov 22;12(1):155. [Epub ahead of print]
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4253607/