Spa therapy improves ventilatory function in the small airways of patients with steroid-dependent intractable asthma (SDIA).
The improvement of ventilatory function by spa therapy was examined in 37 patients with steroid-dependent intractable asthma (SDIA) in relation to clinical asthma types. All subjects had been on long-term corticosteroid therapy before spa therapy. Spa therapy was found to improve the values of ventilatory parameters. The percent improvement in all subjects was +4.1% in %FVC, +8.9% in FEV1.0%, +9.8% in %PEFR, +22.0% in %MMF, +19.7% in %V50 and +28.2% in %V25, respectively. Relating to clinical asthma types, moderate improvement in %MMF and %V25 from 16.7% to 16.9% was observed in type Ia cases, and marked increase in %MMF, %V50 and %V25 was observed from 42.2% to 43.2% in type Ib cases. However, no significant increase was found in these parameters of types Ia or Ib after spa therapy. In patients with type II, a significant increase was shown in %V50 (p less than 0.05) and %V25 (p less than 0.01) after spa therapy. The results show that spa therapy improves the condition of small airways disorder in patients with SDIA.
Tanizaki
Y
Y
Division of Medicine, Misasa Medical Branch, Okayama University Medical School, Japan.
Kitani
H
H
Okazaki
M
M
Mifune
T
T
Mitsunobu
F
F
Ochi
K
K
Harada
H
H
Kimura
I
I
D000305:Adrenal Cortex Hormones / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001249:Asthma / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000628:therapy*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006875:Hydrotherapy; D008168:Lung / Q000503:physiopathology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000150:complications*
D000305:Adrenal Cortex Hormones