Abstract
RATIONALE: FeNO became available in many countries for guiding asthma control as well as asthma diagnosis. However, it is unclear whether FeNO could be an adjunct for predicting asthma exacerbation.
OBJECTIVES: To analyse retrospectively the relationship between FeNO levels and asthma control test (ACT) scores with regard to the number of asthma exacerbation and adherence to the asthma treatment in the past one year.
METHODS: One hundred six asthmatic subjects were randomly selected from our database. All subjects were treated with inhaled corticosteroids (ICS).Subjects were classified into 4 groups based on FeNO levels of 40ppb and ACT scores of 20 points. Asthma exacerbation was defined as need of oral or parenteral corticosteroids.
RESULTS: Regardless of ACT scores, subjects with FeNO≥40ppb had experienced more exacerbations than those with FeNO<40ppb (p=0.007). Furthermore, when subjects were divided according to ACT scores of 20, subjects with ACT<20 and FeNO≥40ppb were more likely to have exacerbations than those with ACT<20 and FeNO<40ppb(p=0.040). When it comes to subjects with ACT≥20, subjects with FeNO≥40ppb tended to have more exacerbations compared to those with FeNO<40ppb(p=0.077). There was no significant difference in adherence of ICS treatment between groups.
CONCLUSIONS:Even if asthma control assessed by ACT is good, subjects with higher FeNO levels are likely to have more exacerbations. Thus, concomitant use of FeNO and ACT could be useful to predict future risks of exacerbation.
- © 2014 ERS