SIGNIFICANCE OF WHEEZING IN CHRONIC AIR-FLOW OBSTRUCTION

  • 1 January 1979
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 120  (5) , 1069-1072
Abstract
Patients [83] with chronic airflow obstruction were examined prospectively to determine the relationships among wheezing intensity, severity of obstruction and response to inhaled isoproterenol. For each patient expiratory wheezing scores were assigned during deep unforced breathing and during forced vital capacity efforts at spirometry. Unforced wheezing scores were independently correlated with severity of obstruction (r [correlation coefficient] = 0.42) and bronchodilator response (r = 0.46), but these correlations did not permit consistent prediction of either variable for clinical purposes. The highest wheezing scores, were uniformly associated with moderate or severe obstruction. Twenty-nine of 48 patients with wheezing but only 3 of 35 patients without wheezing demonstrated 15% or greater improvement in 1 s forced expiratory volume after bronchodilator inhalation (P < 0.001). Wheezing during forced exhalation was not correlated with either degree of obstruction or bronchodilator response.

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