Does baseline airway caliber affect measurements of airway responsiveness to histamine

Considerable controversy exists over the influence of baseline airway caliber on indexes of bronchial responsiveness in asthma. To directly investigate this, we used inhaled methacholine to alter baseline airway caliber to determine whether this altered the airway response to subsequent bronchoprovocation with inhaled histamine. Seventeen stable asthmatic subjects were studied; their median age was 22 yr, baseline forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1) was 101.5 +/- 3.7% (SE) predicted, and geometric mean provocative concentration of inhaled methacholine causing a 20% fall in FEV1 (PC20) was 0.87 mg/ml. Initially the time course of bronchoconstriction to inhaled methacholine was determined. Subsequently the airway response to inhaled histamine administered as a single concentration was determined, both before and after reductions in baseline FEV1 by saline or methacholine of 0, 15, 25, and 35%, on 4 separate days. Altering baseline airway caliber had no effect on the subsequent response of the airways to inhaled histamine when calculated as percent fall from the new baseline. The power of the study to detect an effect of altering baseline FEV1 on the measured PC20 histamine of 0.5 doubling dilutions was > 55%, and the power to detect an effect of 1.0 doubling dilutions was > 98%.