Effect of treatment with formoterol on indicators of ventilatory function and their relationship to quality of life in patients with asthma under daily practice conditions

In this uncontrolled, multicenter study, 746 patients with asthma received 8 weeks of treatment with formoterol 12 or 24 mu g BID to assess the relati onship between indicators of ventilatory function and quality of Life, In a ddition, 95.5% of patients received concomitant antiasthmatic drugs, Outpat ient measurements of peak expiratory flow (PEF) were obtained, and quality of life was measured using the Spanish version of the Asthma Quality-of-Lif e Questionnaire (AQLQ) in 553 patients (286 women, 267 men; mean age, 46.3 +/- 14.2 years). The mean number of symptom-free days per week increased fr om 6.0 +/- 1.8 (week 1) to 6.3 +/- 1.7 (week 8) (P < 0.0005) and the number of symptom-free nights per week increased from 6.0 +/- 1.7 (week 1) to 6.3 +/- 1.7 (week 8) (P < 0.0005). After 8 weeks of treatment, daytime PEF inc reased from 354.9 +/- 122.0 L/min to 405.8 +/- 123.2 L/min (P < 0.0005) and nighttime PEF increased from 369.0 +/- 120.2 L/min to 403.0 +/- 121.3 L/mi n (P < 0.0005), The AQLQ score improved from 4.7 +/- 2.3 (initial) to 1.9 /- 2.1 (final) (P < 0.0005). A small relationship was found between the imp rovement in daytime or nighttime PEF and the improvement in quality of life over the course of the study (r = -.2574 and r = -.2467; P < 0.0005, in bo th cases), In addition to measuring PEF and counting daytime and nighttime symptoms, the AQLQ questionnaire provided useful information to assess the achievement of the therapeutic objective and to assist in decision making.