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oa Methacholine Challenge Test in the Diagnosis of Airway Hyperresponsiveness in the State of Qatar
- Source: Qatar Medical Journal, Volume 2004, Issue 1, Jun 2004, 11
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- 01 June 2004
Abstract
We retrospectively analyzed the results of263 consecutive Methacholine challenge tests (MCTs) done in our laboratory between July 2000 and June 2003, in symptomatic adult patients with no history of bronchial asthma or chronic lung disease, who presented with chronic nonproductive cough, shortness of breath (subjective dyspnea), or both. All of these patients had normal results of chest physical examination, chest radiographs and screening spirometry measurements (FEVl >80% of predicted). We considered a 20% fall in the forced expiratory volume in the first second (FEVJ as the primary outcome measure (MCT PC 20-FEV1X and a 35% fall in the specific conductance (sGaw) as the primary outcome in patients who cannot perform acceptable spirometry. Out of263 patients, 79 patients (30%) were positive for bronchial hyper-responsivenes (BHR), 20 patients (25.3%) of the positive patients had sever BHR, 18 patients (22.8%) had moderate BHR, and 41 patients (51.9%) had mild BHR.