Analysis of dose-response curves in the detection of bronchial hyperreactivity

In 12 reference subjects and 23 asthmatic patients under clinical and functional remission, dose-response curves following inhalation of nebulized carbachol solution were performed. Response was assessed both in terms of SRaw and SGaw and the best fitting mathematical function (linear, exponential, polynomial and logarithmic) was looked for. Discriminating power and day-to-day reproducibility were better when using SGaw, independently from the fitted model. For the sake of simplicity, therefore, the linear or exponential treatment of indices seem preferable.