Original ArticleThe Use of Exhaled Nitric Oxide in the Diagnosis of Asthma in School Children
Section snippets
Methods
Consecutive children referred for possible asthma to the outpatient pediatric pulmonary clinic of the Dana Children's Hospital at the Tel-Aviv Medical Center were included. Inclusion criteria were (1) nonspecific respiratory symptoms suggestive of asthma for at least 3 months' duration, including cough, wheezing, and shortness of breath with or without trials of treatment with bronchodilators and inhaled corticosteroids; (2) children were cooperative and successfully completed all 3 tests: FeNO
Results
One-hundred fifty children completed all 3 tests and complied with the inclusion and exclusion criteria. All were Caucasian. Six children who were unable to produce adequate sputum were not included in the study. Symptoms for which patients were referred were cough (n = 41), dyspnea (n = 31), wheezing episodes (n = 23), dyspnea on exercise (n = 9), cough and dyspnea (n = 19), cough and wheeze (n = 13), and dyspnea and wheeze (n = 14). None of the children were receiving long-acting beta 2
Discussion
This study demonstrates that FeNO in children with asthma is significantly increased when compared with patients with similar symptoms in the absence of asthma. The measurement of FeNO as an inflammatory biomarker in patients with clinical suspicion of asthma provides very similar results to eosinophil count in induced sputum and offers a significantly higher diagnostic yield than the standard approach on the basis of spirometry.
A number of studies reported good sensitivity and specificity for
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The authors declare no conflicts of interest.