Respiratory medicine
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Respiratory medicine · Jan 2001
Clinical Trial Controlled Clinical TrialInspiratory muscle training in patients with cystic fibrosis.
Little information is available about the effects of inspiratory muscle training in patients with cystic fibrosis (CF). In this study the effects of inspiratory-threshold loading in patients with CF on strength and endurance of the inspiratory muscles, pulmonary function, exercise capacity, dyspnoea and fatigue were evaluated. Sixteen patients were assigned to one of two groups using the minimization method: eight patients in the training group and eight patients in the control group. ⋯ After training, in the training group there was a tendency of improvement in Pimax with an increase from 105 to 123% predicted, which just fell short of statistical significance (P = 0.064). After training no significant differences were found in changes from baseline in pulmonary function, exercise capacity, dyspnoea and fatigue. It is concluded that low-intensity inspiratory-threshold loading at 40% of Pimax was sufficient to elicit an increased inspiratory-muscle endurance in patients with CF.
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Respiratory medicine · Jan 2001
Respiratory symptoms relate to physiological changes and inflammatory markers reflecting central but not peripheral airways. A study in 60-year-old 'healthy' smokers and never-smokers.
The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship between respiratory symptoms, lung function and inflammatory markers in 'healthy' smokers. The study population was recruited from an epidemiological study with subjects of the same age, 60 years. Only smokers who considered themselves healthy (n=58) and a random sample of never-smokers (n=34) were investigated. ⋯ A limited number of smokers with occasional non-specific respiratory problems also had more cytotoxic T cells (CD8) in bronchial biopsies. No differences were found in DLCO and the N2 test, lung function tests supposed to reflect the more peripheral airways including the alveoli, HRCT-diagnosed emphysema or inflammatory markers in blood and BAL between smokers with and without respiratory symptoms. It is concluded that even when smokers consider themselves 'healthy' they have mild symptoms that are related more to physiological changes and inflammatory markers that may reflect events in the central airways than to changes that may reflect events in the peripheral airways.