[Measurement of the peak flow in ambulatory asthmatic patients]

The evaluation of the state of respiratory function in asthmatic patients is useful for/the physician to decide on a certain therapeutic method, to determine how this function is modified by the action of a drug treatment schema, etc. The purpose of this work is to describe the behaviour of the results obtained by measurement of the values of peak flow reached for asthmatic patients attended in the allergology service. The measurement was applied to a hundred asthmatic patients of both sexes, selected at random from asthmatic patients seen in outpatient visits. The individuals were tested in a sitting position, using respiratory peak flow standard model equipment (M. 286, Airmed House). The measurements were done on each patient at minimum intervals of one minute. The results obtained in this way were averaged and the resulting value was compared with that foreseen for each individual, by age, sex and height. The patients were classified into four groups according to the presence or absence of positive symptomatology and the presence or absence of wheezing in the auscultation. Comparisons of these groups, both binary and for the four groups, were made as well as an analysis of whether or not the number of individuals with reduction of peak flow and without wheezing was significant in the sample. It was concluded that the use of subjective information obtained from the patient as well as the presence or not of wheezing constitute index of relative value for the evaluation of the functional status of the asthmatic patient, because there is a significant association between the presence of these signs and important obstruction of the airway.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)