Key result
Patients with bronchial asthma exhibited a significantly lower rise in diastolic blood pressure during the cold pressor test compared to controls (5.66 vs 11.73 mmHg), indicating decreased sympathetic drive.
Why the study?
Increased parasympathetic drive is observed in asthmatics, but findings regarding sympathetic activity have been conflicting, with some studies showing increased and others decreased activity.
Do patients with bronchial asthma exhibit altered autonomic function compared to non-asthmatic controls?
Case-Control (n=60)
No
Do patients with bronchial asthma exhibit altered autonomic function compared to non-asthmatic controls?
Absolute Event Rate: 5.66% vs 11.73%
p-value: p=<0.001
Patients with bronchial asthma demonstrate increased parasympathetic and decreased sympathetic drive compared to healthy controls based on autonomic function testing.
Associated with autonomic alterations in asthma; leaves open clinical relevance and needs prospective validation.
Introduction: Increased parasympathetic drive in asthmatics is observed by many researchers. However, some have found increased sympathetic activity and others found it decreased. Materials and Methods: A case–control study was planned including 30 asthmatic patients and 30 age-matched non-asthmatics as controls. Spirometry and autonomic functions were tested, and results of the mean difference were compared using the Student t-test. Results: Out of 30 asthmatics, 76% were in mild-to-moderate grade of asthma on the basis of their forced expiratory volume in the first second % values. Rise in diastolic blood pressure with cold pressor test was significantly less in asthmatics than controls (5.66 ± 3.415 and 11.73 ± 4.49 mmHg; P < 0.001). The mean Valsalva ratio in asthmatics was significantly less than in controls (1.158 ± 0.116 and 1.418 ± 0.645; P < 0.05). Galvanic skin resistance in asthmatics was significantly more than in controls (589.8 ± 268.12 and 328.75 ± 165.07; P < 0.001). Conclusions: Thus, from our study, there was increased parasympathetic and decreased sympathetic drive in patients with bronchial asthma as compared to controls.
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Bharshankar et al. (2019) conducted a case-control in Bronchial asthma (n=60). Bronchial asthma vs. Non-asthmatic controls was evaluated on Rise in diastolic blood pressure with cold pressor test (mmHg) (p=<0.001). Patients with bronchial asthma exhibited a significantly lower rise in diastolic blood pressure during the cold pressor test compared to controls (5.66 vs 11.73 mmHg), indicating decreased sympathetic drive.