Novel measure of lung function for assessing disease activity in asthma.

Introduction: In asthma, lung function measures are often discordant with clinical features such as disease activity or control.
Methods: We investigated a novel technique that provides a measure (σCL) of unevenness (inhomogeneity) in lung inflation/deflation. In particular, we compared σCL with FEV ₁ % predicted (FEV ₁ %pred) as measures of disease activity in the asthmatic lung.
Results: σCL correlated modestly with FEV ₁ %pred. However, σCL is not simply a proxy for FEV ₁ %pred as the effects of salbutamol on the two parameters were unrelated. Importantly, σCL reflected disease control better than FEV ₁ .
Discussion: We conclude that σCL shows promise as an objective measure of disease activity in asthma.
Competing Interests: Competing interests: Oxford University Innovation, a wholly owned subsidiary of the University of Oxford, owns the IP and holds/has filed patents in relation to the technology. JC, GH, GADR and PAR have an interest in one or more of these patents/filings.
(© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2020. Re-use permitted under CC BY. Published by BMJ.)