Airway resistance in bronchial asthma and rhinitis.

Following the acceptance of the interrupter technique as one of the most sensitive in determining airway resistance, we decided to conduct a comparative study between healthy subjects and those patients with respiratory illness, in the varieties rhinitis and bronchial asthma. The study included 125 patients with respiratory illness, 42 diagnosed as having rhinitis and 83 with bronchial asthma with or without associated rhinitis. These groups were divided into symptomatic and asymptomatic at the time of the study. Hundred and eighty individuals were selected as a control group. A significant difference can be seen between the values for airway resistance of the control group (means = 0,651 7 kpc/l./sec.-1) and those with symptomatic rhinitis (means = 0,7732 kpc/l./sec.-1) or symptomatic bronchial asthma (means = 1,2602 kpc/l./sec-1). Values for airway resistance in asymptomatic patients (rhinitis and bronchial asthma) are similar to the control group. The rhinitis group which was clinically symptomatic at the beginning of the study was divided into two groups according to whether the airway resistance was within +/- 1 standard deviation of the mean or elevated analysis showed a statistical difference between the two groups. This makes us think that we are dealing here with distinct groups.