FEV1 as a measure of obstruction may be partitioned into components of air trapping (indicated by FVC and reflecting small airways disease) and airflow limitation (indicated by FEV1/FVC and reflecting large airway luminal caliber) [ 37– 40].
Finally, objective measures of airway obstruction (spirometry or peak flow measurement) were recorded for fewer than one fifth of children.
There were significant negative correlations between measures of airflow obstruction and inflammatory markers.
A total of 17 different primary outcomes were selected, of which physiological measures of airway obstruction, including PEFR (26 studies) and FEV1 (16 studies), were the most frequent.
Objective measures of airways obstruction in most asthmatics are considered more reliable to indicate the severity of an exacerbation than changes in the severity of symptoms.
This technique was rapidly performed and resulted in a significant improvement in both esthetic appearance and objective measures of nasal obstruction.
As we have not compared TBFV indices with conventional measures of airway obstruction, we cannot be certain whether we have missed bronchodilation, if one existed.
Finally, measures of airway obstruction do not correlate with patient-reported measures, and it is therefore important to assess at least one endpoint from each of these categories in clinical trials [ 20, 23, 24].
We were able to show that high-quality data on asthma symptoms, measures of airflow obstruction and markers of airway inflammation can be successfully collected by home visitation in a resource-poor setting.
Stoddard et al. prospectively examined the effect of trimming nasal vibrissae (the stiff hair in anterior nares) on subjective and objective measures of nasal obstruction in 30 healthy individuals.
Although it would have been desirable to examine additional measures of airway obstruction, such as mid-volume flows [forced expiratory flow between 25 and 75% of vital capacity (FEF25 75)], these were not available from simple hand-held devices at the time of the study.
