[Functional shifts in the respiratory and circulatory systems of bronchial asthma patients during exertion]

A total of 56 patients aged 40-59 were examined for bronchial asthma of infectious-allergic etiology and moderate severity. Exercise-related bronchospasm (EB) was detected in 46 of them. Exercise tolerance was studied using bicycle ergometry, ventilometric changes with threshold exercise test and central hemodynamics was assessed in response to standard exercise with chest tetrapolar rheography. BE was associated with an additional decrease in the working capacity of patients with bronchial asthma with moderately expressed ventilation disturbances at rest. These patients were also demonstrated to have hypoergic-nature response of central hemodynamics to a standard motor test. BE-free patients with the same degree of ventilation disturbances exhibited the response close to normoergic. The evidence suggests the involvement of the hemodynamic mechanisms in the formation of an exercise tolerance threshold in bronchial asthma complicated by BE.