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Respiratory medicine
Research
Respiratory symptoms and peripheral airways disease in a cross-sectional study on a random population sample
  1. Jan Yngve Olofson1,
  2. Birgitta Houltz2,
  3. Maria Nilsson Tengelin3,
  4. Björn Bake1
  1. 1Department of Respiratory Medicine and Allergology, Institute of Medicine, Sahlgrenska Academy at University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden
  2. 2Clinical Physiology, Sahlgrenska University Hospital, Östra, Institute of Medicine, Sahlgrenska Academy at University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden
  3. 3Department of Measurement Technology, SP Swedish Technical Research Institute, Borås, Sweden
  1. Correspondence to Dr Jan Yngve Olofson; jan.olofson{at}lungall.gu.se

Abstract

Objectives Respiratory symptoms are associated with spirometry results but more strongly with smoking history, suggesting that alterations in the lung other than those revealed by spirometry contribute to cause symptoms. Smoking may cause obstruction of peripheral airways that is poorly detected by spirometry. The slope of phase III of the single-breath nitrogen (N2) test detects smoking-induced alterations in smokers before spirometry is impaired. The aim of the present investigation was to study the association between respiratory symptoms and the slope of phase III adjusting for spirometry results and smoking history.

Design Single-centre retrospective cross-sectional study.

Setting University hospital in Gothenburg, Sweden.

Participants A random population sample of 430 elderly men.

Methods The presence of seven different respiratory symptoms were analysed by a multiple logistic regression model in relation to spirometry results, smoking history (pack-years) and the slope of phase III in a population sample of 430 elderly men, age span 50–67 years. Furthermore, smoking normalised values of the slope of phase III were calculated and differences between subjects reporting/not reporting symptoms were tested.

Results The presence of some cough symptoms was significantly associated with a steep slope of phase III also when adjusting for spirometry results and smoking history. Furthermore, smoking normalised slope of phase III was significantly steeper among subjects with cough symptoms compared to those without cough symptoms.

Conclusions Cough symptoms may be an effect of abnormalities in peripheral airways at least among elderly men.

This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial License, which permits use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non commercial and is otherwise in compliance with the license. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/ and http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/legalcode.

https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2012-001488

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