Correlation of clinical findings with functional parameters in elderly asthma patients

Introduction: Advanced age is a risk factor for a blunted perception of the symptoms, severity and mortality of asthma. There are only a few studies in the literature on the relationship between respiratory symptoms and pulmonary function in elderly asthmatics. Aims: To evaluate the divergence between clinical and functional classification of asthma in the elderly and to characterise subgroups of patients at greater risk of clinico-functional divergence. Material and methods: A cross-sectional study evaluating 41 elderly asthmatics (60 years old or over; 33 female; mean age 68.2 years old). Data on age, gender, educational level, smoking, time since diagnosis of the disease and weight were obtained. Clinical classification, peak expiratory flow measurement and spirometry were performed. Results: We found that forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1) correlated positively with the other functional parameters, and FEV1 correlated negatively with time since diagnosis of the disease. The percentage of clinico-functional divergence was 73.2%. Female patients and those with lower levels of schooling had an 8.6 and 9.3 risk of clinico-functional divergence respectively. Conclusion: The great clinico-functional divergence in elderly asthmatics shows the need to establish functional measurements as markers of asthma severity.