Climate and environment change in patients with chronic airway obstruction

Psychological, clinical, and pulmonary physiological measurements were studied in ten patients with weather-sensitive chronic airway obstruction during one month in Gothenburg, Sweden, and immediately after for one month in the Canary Islands, a change to a drier and warmer climate. All patients improved according to psychological tests and claimed to be better. Objective measurements including peak expiratory flow rate, airway conductance, static lung volumes, and elastic lung recoil showed improvement in eight of ten patients, a change that we believe is due to the effect of climate.