Page 82 - Comprehensive treatment of patients with glucocorticoid-dependent severe asthma

Chapter 4
Table 2. Changes from baseline in the five main outcomes
Domains:
Medication
Use of OCS (n(% n))
Patient reported outcomes
AQLQ score
Lung function
FEV1 post ß2 (L) FEV1 post β2 (%)
Airway inflammation
Blood eosinophils (unit/μl)
Life style
BMI (kg/m2)
Baseline
72.0 (53.0)
3.87 (3.18 to 4.57)
2.87 (1.9 to 3.2) 89.2 (68.3 to 100.7)
180.0 (92.5 to 337.5) 28.8 (28.0 to 32.9)
43.0 5.46
3.01 93.7
190.0 28.3
12 weeks
(31.6)
(4.87 to 6.29)
(2.23 to 3.53) (79.3 to 105.6)
(120.0 to 310.0)† (23.9 to 31.8)
p-value
<0.01 <0.01
<0.01 <0.01
0.29 <0.01
Footnote table 2. Data are presented as median (interquartile range) unless
p-values from paired t-test or Wilcoxon signed rank tests, depending on the distribution of the variables . † Data available for 100 patients, blood eosinophils measured at 12 or 15 weeks of high altitude climate therapy.
Predictors of benefit from high altitude treatment
Spearman rank correlations between potential predictors of improvement (baseline characteristics) and each outcome are listed in Table 3. All patients showed improvements in AQLQ and FEV1 at 12 weeks time, but no specific predictors for improvement of these parameters were identified. Poorer asthma control (p<0.01), younger age (p=0.02) and lower blood eosinophil counts at baseline (p<0.01) were independently associated with reduction in daily OCS dose at 12 weeks time. Higher ICS dose (p=0.03) and high total IgE at baseline (p<0.01) were independently associated with reduction in blood eosinophils at 12 weeks time and lower fatigue score at baseline was independently associated with reduction in BMI (p=0.01) (Table 4).
80
otherwise stated;