Prevalence, Diagnostic Utility and Associated Characteristics of Bronchodilator Responsiveness

Bronchodilator Responsiveness (BDR) prevalence in patients with chronic airway diseases receiving treatment ranges from 18% to 30%, being modestly lower with the 2021 than with the 2005 European Respiratory Society/American Thoracic Society criteria, and it is associated with lower lung function and greater symptom burden.

These observations question the validity of BDR as a key diagnostic tool for asthma managed in clinical practice or as a standard inclusion criterion for clinical trials of asthma and instead suggest that BDR be considered a treatable trait for chronic airway disease.

Measurements and Main Results

3,519 patients were studied with a physician-assigned diagnosis of asthma, 833 with a diagnosis of asthma + COPD, and 2,436 with a diagnosis of COPD.

The prevalence of BDR was 19.7% (asthma), 29.6% (asthma + COPD), and 24.7% (COPD) using 2005 criteria and 18.1%, 23.3%, and 18.0%, respectively, using 2021 criteria.

Using 2021 criteria in patients diagnosed with asthma, BDR was associated with higher fractional exhaled nitric oxide; lower lung function; higher symptom burden; more frequent hospital admissions; and greater use of triple therapy, oral corticosteroids, or biologics. In patients diagnosed with COPD, BDR (2021) was associated with lower lung function and higher symptom burden.

Puedes leer el artículo completo aquí: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38029294/

Autores: Richard Beasley, Rod Hughes, Alvar Agusti, Peter Calverley, Bradley Chipps, Ricardo Del Olmo, Alberto Papi, David Price, Helen Reddel, Hana Müllerová, Eleni Rapsomaniki.