Chest
Clinical InvestigationsCOPDIncreased Exhaled Nitric Oxide in Chronic Bronchitis
Section snippets
Study Design and Subjects
We conducted a cross-sectional survey of exhaled NO in consecutive patients referred for routine pulmonary function testing to the Veterans Administration Medical Center in Portland, OR. We administered a standardized demographic and pulmonary symptom questionnaire to each subject, and measured exhaled carbon monoxide (CO) and exhaled NO concentrations using standard techniques that are described below. Each subject then performed spirometry before and after receiving an aerosolized
Demographics of the Study Population
The study and control groups were predominantly older white men (Table 1 ). Most members of the study population were ex-smokers (51%) or current smokers (35%) and had ETS exposure (47%). In contrast, the control groups consisted entirely of never smokers or ex-smokers and reported no ETS exposure. As expected for patients referred to a pulmonary function laboratory, the prevalence of lung disease was high, with more than half the study group meeting the criteria for COPD and one third meeting
Discussion
The most important finding of this study was that exhaled NO concentrations are elevated in patients with chronic bronchitis. As expected, subjects with asthma had elevated exhaled NO concentrations, similar in magnitude to those with chronic bronchitis; and the highest NO concentrations were seen in subjects with both chronic bronchitis and asthma. In contrast, exhaled NO concentrations were not elevated in subjects with COPD. Current-smoker status was associated with reduced NO
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The authors thank Gary Sexton, PhD, for assistance with data analysis.
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Cited by (0)
Supported by the American Lung Association of Oregon.