Relationship between symptoms and objective measures of airway obstructionin asthmatic patients

The objective of this study was to determine the relationship between asthm a symptoms and the degree of airway obstruction as measured by the forced e xpiratory volume In one second (FEV1) and peak expiratory flow rate (PEFR) in a group of 64 asthmatic patients with clinically stable disease attendin g a university-based urban asthma clinic. Asthma symptoms did not correlate with the degree of airway obstruction as measured by prebronchodilator PEF R (total asthma symptom score vs PEFR: r = -0.214, p=0.104, n=59) and only correlated poorly with prebronchodilator FEV1 (total asthma symptom score v s FEV1: r = -0.256, p=0.041, n=64). These results lend support to the recom mendation that airway obstruction should be measured objectively when asses sing patients with chronic persistent asthma.