FeNO as a Marker of Airways Inflammation: The Possible Implications in Childhood Asthma Management

• Published in: Journal of Allergy Vol. 2010; no. 2010; pp. 71 - 77
• Main Authors: Verini, Marcello, Consilvio, Nicola Pietro, Di Pillo, Sabrina, Cingolani, Anna, Spagnuolo, Cynzia, Rapino, Daniele, Scaparrotta, Alessandra, Chiarelli, Francesco
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cairo, Egypt Hindawi Limiteds 01.01.2010; Hindawi Puplishing Corporation; Hindawi Publishing Corporation
• ISSN: 1687-9783; 1687-9791
• DOI: 10.1155/2010/691425

The aim of this study was to verify FeNO usefulness, as a marker of bronchial inflammation, in the assessment of therapeutic management of childhood asthma. We performed a prospective 1-year randomized clinical trial evaluating two groups of 32 children with allergic asthma: “GINA group”, in which therapy was assessed only by GINA guidelines and “FeNO group”, who followed a therapeutic program assessed also on FeNO measurements. Asthma Severity score (ASs), Asthma Exacerbation Frequency (AEf), and Asthma Therapy score (ATs) were evaluated at the start of the study (T1), 6 months (T2), and 1 year after (T3). ASs and AEf significantly decreased only in the FeNO group at times T2 and T3 (p[T1-T2] = 0.0001, and p[T1-T3] = 0.01; p[T1-T2] = 0.0001; and p[T1-T3] < 0.0001, resp.). After six months of follow-up, we found a significant increase of patients under inhaled corticosteroid and/or antileukotrienes in the GINA group compared to the FeNO group (P=.02). Our data show that FeNO measurements, might be a very useful additional parameter for management of asthma, which is able to avoid unnecessary inhaled corticosteroid and antileukotrienes therapies, however, mantaining a treatment sufficient to obtain a meaningful improvement of asthma.