Chest
Clinical Investigations; Articles; Nebs and FlowsImpaired Bronchodilator Response to Albuterol in Healthy Elderly Men and Women
Section snippets
Subjects
Seventeen healthy young (age 20 to 36 years) and 17 elderly (age 60 to 76 years) nonasthmatic subjects were recruited from the community. Subjects had normal baseline lung function with no respiratory or atopic history. Exclusion criteria were the following: cognitive impairment; pregnancy; cardiac disease; thyroid disorder; present cigarette smoking or smoking history of >10 pack-years; respiratory infection, medication change, or antihistamine treatment within 6 weeks; past or present
Results
For simplicity of presentation, data given will refer to day 2 unless otherwise stated. Analyses revealed very similar results on days 2 and 3.
Discussion
The present study has validated a method for the assessment of bronchodilator sensitivity to albuterol in normal subjects without baseline bronchoconstriction. Reproducibility of the results was good and compares well with reproducibility of bronchoconstrictor challenge with methacholine using this protocol in both young and elderly subjects.19, 20, 21 The study showed an impaired bronchodilator response to a β2-adrenergic agonist in healthy elderly subjects following methacholine challenge.
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Cited by (0)
Supported in part by the Department of Veterans Affairs (Onice of Research and Development, Medical Research Service) a grant-in-aid from the American Heart Association of Idaho and a grant from Glaxo Inc. Dr. Connolly was supported by the British Geriatrics Society/Nuffield Foundation Travelling Fellowship Dr. Crowley was the recipient of a Faculty Development Award in Clinical Pharmacology from the Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association Foundation.
Currently at University of Manchester, England.