Elsevier

Respiratory Medicine

Volume 96, Issue 12, December 2002, Pages 1014-1020
Respiratory Medicine

Regular Article
Reduction of variability of exhaled nitric oxide in healthy volunteers

https://doi.org/10.1053/rmed.2002.1390Get rights and content
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Abstract

Exhaled nitric oxide (eNO) is elevated in patients with asthma in contrast to healthy subjects, although the variability is high. In this study, we tried to reduce the variability of eNO in healthy subjects. We measured eNO using ERS guidelines with a fixed exhalation flow of 250 ml/s in 117 (72 women, 45 men) non-smoking healthy subjects and correlated this to antropometric data and standard lung function measurements. Using a model previously defined by Hyde et al., we selected parameters that were likely to have a high correlation with eNO. ENO was log-normally distributed. The normal values for eNO are significantly (P<0.001) different for men and women: in women mean ln eNO levels (SD) were 1.49 (0.34), in men 1.74 (0.41) (back-transformed value 4.43 resp. 5.73 ppb). Using multiple regression analysis, only lnDm,CO , ln TLC and ln sGaw showed a significant positive correlation with ln eNO in men, although only 20% of the variability of eNO could be explained. In women no correlation was observed and only 5% of the variability was explained. The high variability of eNO could only partly be explained in men, which makes the use of reference equations not very helpful.

Keywords

exhaled nitric oxide
healthy subjects
variability
reference equation.

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Correspondence should be addressed to: P. Zanen, MD, PhD, St. Antonius Hospital, P.O. Box 2500, 3430 EM Nieuwegein, The Netherlands. Fax: +31 30 6052001; E-mail: [email protected]