EFFECT OF BUDESONIDE ON BRONCHIAL HYPERRESPONSIVENESS AND PULMONARY-FUNCTION IN PATIENTS WITH MILD-TO-MODERATE ASTHMA

Thirty-nine subjects were included in this double-blind, placebo-contr olled study of bronchial hyperresponsiveness (BHR) in patients with mi ld to moderate asthma. The timecourses of change of FEV(1), PEFR%, bro nchial reactivity, and daily measures of asthma control were determine d during 8 weeks of treatment after a run-in period of 2 weeks. Bronch ial hyperresponsiveness was assessed by the methacholine provocation m ethod, defined as the dose of methacholine causing a 20% fall of FEV(1 ) compared with baseline values. The trends of FEV(1) and the percenta ge change in PEFR from baseline were significantly different between g roups, in favor of budesonide (P <.05). Patient assessments of the eff ect of treatment showed that PEF improved significantly in the budeson ide group only. The budesonide group increased their tolerability for methacholine provocation by 1.8 DD (doubling dose), which tended to be higher compared with the 0.8 DD of the placebo group. It is evident f rom this study and previous studies that more data are needed to estab lish the dose-effect relationship with time and severity of the diseas e.