COMPARISON OF 2 EPIDEMIOLOGIC PROTOCOLS FOR MEASURING AIRWAY RESPONSIVENESS AND ALLERGIC SENSITIVITY IN ADULTS

In recent years, airway responsiveness has commonly been measured in e pidemiological studies using one of two methods. In one method, histam ine is administered via a handheld DeVilbiss nebulizer and in the othe r, methacholine is administered via a dosimeter. Allergic sensitivity has commonly been measured by either the allergen droplet method or by Phazet. We wanted to assess the comparability of airway responsivenes s and of allergic sensitivity measured by both methods. A total of 48 volunteers, including normal and asthmatic subjects, participated in t he study. Subjects first underwent one of the two tests of airway resp onsiveness and allergic sensitivity, and then returned within 10 days to undergo tests using the second protocol. Commencement protocol was allocated in random order. There was good agreement between both metho ds for assessing airway responsiveness and for assessing allergic sens itivity. The difference for dose response ratio (DRR) between histamin e and methacholine was a 1.19 (95% (CI) 0.78, 1.82) fold changes, whic h was not statistically significant. Agreement between allergic sensit ivity methods was perfect for Alternaria tenuis, good for rye-grass (k appa=0.71) and moderate for cat and Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus (ka ppa approximately 0.5). It is possible to compare data from epidemiolo gical studies which use these methods.