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F Neukirch

Publications and source records attributed to F Neukirch.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1992

Relation of serum elastin peptide concentration to age, FEV1, smoking habits, alcohol consumption, and protease inhibitor phenotype: an epidemiological study in working men.

BACKGROUND: In clinical investigations elastin peptide concentration has been proposed as one potential marker of lung elastin degradation. No epidemiological study has yet confirmed this hypothesis. METHODS: The relation of elastin peptide concentration to some factors closely related to pulmonary emphysema (age, smoking habits, FEV1 alpha protease inhibitor (PI) phenotype) and to alcohol consumption was examined in an epidemiological study of 310 working men. The elastin peptides used for obtaining antibodies and as reference in an ELISA assay were prepared from chemically hydrolysed elastin. RESULTS: The elastin peptide concentration significantly decreased with age from 2.92 (1.54) micrograms/ml among subjects younger than 30 years to 2.18 (1.14) micrograms/ml among subjects older than 50. Elastin peptide concentration did not differ with smoking habits and was clearly unrelated to FEV1. A lower elastin peptide concentration was observed in all groups of subjects with a protease inhibitor phenotype other than PI MM (PI FM, IM, MP, MS, MZ, and S phenotypes). CONCLUSIONS: The results cast doubts on the usefulness of the elastin peptide concentration as a marker of lung destruction in middle aged, predominantly healthy men. Blood elastin peptide concentration may reflect both elastin degradation and resynthesis. The results of this analysis suggest that several factors (age, alcohol consumption, non-PI MM phenotype) may be associated with decreased resynthesis of lung elastin. Further studies, conducted in various age groups and including estimates of the degree of lung destruction, are needed to unravel the mechanisms underlying lysis and resynthesis of lung elastin.

Adult↗
PubMed1992

Different effects of nasal and bronchial glucocorticosteroid administration on bronchial hyperresponsiveness in patients with allergic rhinitis.

Disorders of the upper respiratory tract, particularly allergic rhinitis, are commonly associated with bronchial hyperresponsiveness. The latter may be due to postnasal drip or to mediator or chemotactic factors into the lower airways that either directly alter airway reactivity or cause airway inflammation. The aim of this study was to compare the effect of an identical dose of nasal or bronchial corticosteroid administration on bronchial hyperresponsiveness in patients with allergic rhinitis. Eleven patients were studied. All of them were judged atopic on the basis of positive skin tests to common allergens. During control, spirometry, flow-volume curves, and specific airway conductance (SGaw) were measured. Bronchial challenges were then performed with increasing concentrations of carbachol, and dose-response curves were constructed. The concentration of carbachol that decreased SGaw by 35% from baseline (PD35) was determined by interpolating from the dose-response curve. Control measurements were repeated at 1-wk intervals to ensure that PD35 was stable in all the patients. Then the patients received for 2 wk, in a double-blind randomized crossover fashion, a topical administration of either an aerosol of 400 micrograms of beclamethasone dipropionate (B) into the nose (100 micrograms four times per day) or into the bronchi. During each trial period, identical sprays of placebo were used, the latter being administered into the nose when B was administered into the bronchi and vice versa. Measurements were then performed after 2 wk of intranasal administration and after 2 wk of intrabronchial administration.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Administration, Inhalation↗
PubMed1992

Peak expiratory flow variability and bronchial responsiveness to methacholine. An epidemiologic study in 117 workers.

We studied the relationships between peak expiratory flow (PEF) variability and bronchial responsiveness to methacholine in 117 workers attending the annual compulsory examination (mean age, 38.7 yr +/- 9.5; men, 86.3%). Subjects recorded their highest PEF out of three, every 3 waking hours (i.e., five times a day) for 7 days, each using a newly purchased Vitalograph peak flow meter, and underwent methacholine challenge tests with a maximal cumulative dose of 1,200 micrograms. Those with a FEV1 fall of 15% or more were considered as reactors. The variability of PEF was expressed as the amplitude percent mean, calculated from daily amplitude (highest-lowest reading/mean reading of the day x 100), averaged over 6 days, from the second to the seventh. This index had a continuous distribution, skewed towards the greatest amplitudes, and correlated negatively with FEV1 (r = -0.25, p = 0.01). Subjects with asthma (n = 8) had greater variations. In the 109 nonasthmatics, greater variability was observed in subjects with wheeze apart from colds, breathlessness, or hay fever; the average amplitude was greater in reactors than in nonreactors to methacholine (16.9% versus 9.3%, p less than 0.001). The subjects with excessive PEF variability were all methacholine reactors, but they were only a subgroup of the reactors. These results provide evidence that excessive PEF variability is an indicator of bronchial hyperresponsiveness to methacholine in a population sample.

Adult↗
PubMed1992

Frequency and correlates of the saw-tooth pattern of flow-volume curves in an epidemiological survey.

The object of this report was to assess the possibility of identifying saw-tooth patterns on flow-volume curves in men aged 28 to 58 years. We studied the frequency of these patterns and their relationships with two indirect signs of UAO increase in FEV1/PEF and FEF50%/FIF50% ratios--as well as with clinical and functional data. Twenty-six of the 360 subjects surveyed, ie, 7.2 percent, had flow oscillations in the inspiratory and/or expiratory part of flow-volume curves, corresponding to the definition of the saw-tooth pattern. We observed significant relationships between the saw-tooth pattern and the mean FEV1/PEF ratio. In 97 subjects, the proportion of those with saw-tooth patterns was 13.4 percent, and the mean FEF50%/FIF50% ratio was 1.53 in those with the pattern vs 1.07 in those without it. These results show that the saw-tooth pattern was not rare in these men.

Adult↗
PubMed1992

Total circulating IgE and FEV1 in adult men. An epidemiologic longitudinal study.

Epidemiologic data relating total circulating immunoglobulin E (IgE), an objective marker of allergy, to cross-sectional and longitudinal FEV1 as well as to methacholine bronchial hyperresponsiveness were obtained from 310 French adult men surveyed five years apart. Skin prick test responses to common aeroallergens, IgE level, and bronchial hyperresponsiveness were assessed at the end of the follow-up. IgE level was not associated with PD20 to methacholine. Cross-sectionally, age and height-adjusted FEV1 score was inversely related to total IgE level (regression coefficient of FEV1 score on Log[IgE] beta = -.20; p = 0.02). Stratified analysis showed that IgE level was associated with FEV1 score only in nonsmokers (beta = -0.52; p less than 0.001), an association that remained after exclusion of asthmatics. Longitudinally, five-year FEV1 decline was related to IgE in nonsmokers (regression coefficient of FEV1 decline on Log[IgE] beta = 19.9; p = 0.03) and exsmokers (beta = 18.9; p = 0.06) but not in current smokers. The relationship persisted, even if with lesser significance, among exsmokers after exclusion of asthmatics (beta = 17.2) and further exclusion of skin prick test-positive men (beta = 18.8). Whether IgE production also reflects factors other than allergy, possibly nonallergic inflammation, needs further investigations.

Adult↗
PubMed1992

Relationship of upper airways disorders to FEV1 and bronchial hyperresponsiveness in an epidemiological study.

Associations of upper airways disorders (UAD) with forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1) and bronchial methacholine response were studied, taking smoking habits into account. We used epidemiological data drawn from a population of 324 men, aged 27-58 yrs. Lower FEV1 level was related to hay fever (p = 0.01), usual (p = 0.01) and chronic (p = 0.02) rhinitis and common cold on the day of examination (p = 0.04). Allowance for the major potential confounding factor, tobacco smoking, showed similar results. Bronchial methacholine response was heightened in men reporting hay fever compared to those without (p = 0.01) but also in men reporting chronic rhinitis (p = 0.06), a group which did not exhibit skin prick test positivity more often than other subjects. Exclusion of asthmatics and taking into account smoking and skin prick test positivity yielded mostly similar results. Our data support the hypothesis of an association between lung impairment, as assessed by lower FEV1 and bronchial hyperresponsiveness to methacholine, and different types of UAD, allergic or not.

Adult↗
PubMed1992

[Mortality related to asthma. Trends in France from 1970 to 1987].

An increase in mortality related to asthma has been observed in a great number of countries during the last decade. The purpose of this work is to study this evolution in France from 1970 to 1987. Numbers of deaths were obtained from INSERM, by sex and age groups and the corresponding populations from INSEE. Data were interpreted from crude rates and with the computation of age adjusted and age specific rates. In men, we observed a decrease in mortality from 1972 to 1979, then an increase from 1980 to 1987. In women, the decrease stopped as early as 1974 and we observed an increase from 1975 to 1987. On the other hand their crude and age-adjusted rates become higher than men's rates as early as 1977.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1992

[Biological and clinical prevalence of pollinosis caused by ragweeds of the upper valley of the Rhône corridor].

An epidemiological study of ragweed allergy was conducted on 646 employees belonging to 6 factories located in the Rhone valley south of the city of Lyon. Information on seasonal evocative clinical symptoms was obtained through a self-administered questionnaire. Biological prevalence was assessed by measuring anti-ragweed IgE specific antibodies. Measurements were performed by immunoenzymatic assay (W1 Phadezym RAST from Pharmacia). 34 (5,4%) subjects had evocative symptoms whereas 37 (5,9%) had increased specific IgE. Persons with the highest IgE levels were symptomatic. Concordance between symptoms and biology was 35% (12/34). Results indicate that sensitization level varies according to the location of the factory and people's residence, the risk to become allergic being of 10% in the most exposed population. This data emphasize the need to promote anti-ragweed eradication policy.

Adult↗
PubMed1991

Relationships of haptoglobin level to FEV1, wheezing, bronchial hyper-responsiveness and allergy.

The relationships of haptoglobin level to respiratory and allergic parameters have been assessed in an epidemiological study conducted in a working population surveyed twice 5 years apart. At the first survey conducted in 892 working men, haptoglobin level was significantly related to FEV1 (r = -0.18; P less than 0.001) and smoking habits. After adjustment for smoking, a history of wheezing was significantly related to lower haptoglobin level. A second survey conducted in 304 men of the original sample 5 years later confirmed that haptoglobin was related to FEV1 (r = -0.21; P less than 0.001) and that wheezing was significantly related to hypohaptoglobinaemia (lower decile; P = 0.04). Men who exhibited bronchial hyper-responsiveness to methacholine had haptoglobin levels 0.35 g/l higher than those who did not (P = 0.01). Haptoglobin level was unrelated to IgE level and skin prick tests. These results support the hypothesis of the role of inflammation in both lower lung function and bronchial hyper-responsiveness. They suggest that some heterogeneity exists within subjects with a history of wheezing.

Adult↗
PubMed1991

Protective effect of theophylline on bronchial hyperresponsiveness in patients with allergic rhinitis.

Disorders of the upper respiratory tract, particularly allergic rhinitis are commonly associated with bronchial hyperresponsiveness. The latter may be responsible for chronic cough, a common symptom in patients with allergic rhinitis, which, as previously shown, can be the sole presenting manifestation of bronchial hyperresponsiveness. Theophylline is widely used in patients with asthma for its bronchodilator effect, whereas its action on bronchial reactivity is controversial. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of theophylline administration on bronchial hyperresponsiveness in patients with allergic rhinitis complaining of chronic cough. Fourteen patients were studied. All of them were judged atopic on the basis of positive skin tests to common allergens. During control, spirometry, flow-volume curves and specific airway conductance (SGaw) were measured. Bronchial challenges were then performed with increasing concentrations of carbachol, and dose-response curves were constructed. The concentration of carbachol, which decreased SGaw by 35% from baseline (PD35) was determined by interpolating from the dose-response curve. After control measurements patients received in a randomized, double-blind crossover fashion either theophylline 10 mg/kg/day orally or placebo for 30 days. Measurements were then redone. After a washout period of 8 days the measurements were repeated, and patients received theophylline or placebo for a second period of 30 days. Measurements were again performed at the end of this last study period. During control all patients had normal baseline lung function data and showed marked bronchial hyperresponsiveness, PD35 amounting to 26 +/- 7 micrograms of carbachol (normal value greater than 160 micrograms). No significant changes in PD35 were noted after placebo and washout when compared with control values.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Adult↗
PubMed1991

Blood eosinophilia and FEV1. Cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses.

A previous cross-sectional analysis of 1980 data from a population of working men in the Paris area has shown a significant relationship of blood eosinophilia to a reduced FEV1 among nonsmokers, remaining after excluding men with a history of asthma. In the present report, we reexamine this relationship, after taking into account asthma, bronchial hyperresponsiveness, and positive skin prick tests, using data collected in 1985 in a subsample of 363 men from the initial population. Blood eosinophilia, defined by 5% or more eosinophils or by 250 or more eosinophils per cubic millimeter appeared to be associated with a lower FEV1, primarily in nonsmokers. A difference of approximately 0.40 L was observed in never-smokers with eosinophilia (greater than or equal to 5% of eosinophils) compared with those without. This association persisted after exclusion of subjects with atopy, asthma, and bronchial hyperresponsiveness. Longitudinally, no significant association was observed between 1980 eosinophilia and the annual FEV1 decline between 1980 and 1985, even in nonsmokers. The results of our cross-sectional analyses suggest that asthma or asthma-like disorder does not explain the association between eosinophilia and FEV1. The role of eosinophil in respiratory disorders may go beyond its intervention in allergy. Further longitudinal studies are needed to better understand discrepancies between cross-sectional and longitudinal data and whether eosinophilia is a risk factor for chronic air-flow limitation.

Adult↗
PubMed1991

Relationships of total IgE level, skin prick test response, and smoking habits.

Epidemiologic observations on 331 men showed that increased serum IgE concentration was associated with a wheal response to skin prick testing, but also to an erythema response in the absence of any wheal, and to heavy smoking. The association between IgE and the various skin prick test responses remained after taking into account smoking and asthma.

Adult↗
PubMed1990

[Respiratory history in children and asthma].

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between asthma, the respiratory history and possible disturbances of pulmonary function in teenage asthmatics. This aetiological study was carried out in 103 asthmatics and 1094 controls who were teenagers attending schools in Bordeaux. In addition to the data collected by the teenagers using a self administered questionnaire, parents also filled out a complementary questionnaire. Spirometry was performed in a sample of 112 subjects. The result showed a significant relationship between asthma and respiratory history in childhood and infancy. Moreover there was a significant decrease of FEV1, (in girls only) and FEF 25-75 (boys and girls) amongst the asthmatic pupils.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1989

[Aorta-left ventricle coupling in permanent arterial hypertension using Doppler echocardiography].

We have studied 12 sustained hypertensive patients (H) (9 men and 3 women) untreated and without other heart disease than a left ventricular hypertrophy, 37 to 70 years of age (mean 56 +/- 12) and 12 normotensive subjects (N) of the same sex and 35 to 77 years of age (mean 52 +/- 16 ans). We have measured 1) arterial pressure (AP) by a standard mercury sphygmomanometer, 2) diameter of ascending aorta (AD), end diastolic left ventricular radius (r) and thickness (Th) by M mode echocardiography with 2D echo control., 3) isthmus-diaphragm pulse wave delay (PWD) from aortic velocity curves recorded in the isthmus and diaphragm aortic crossing by pulsed doppler. We derived 1) the pulse wave velocity (PWV) as PW = SL/PWD where SL is the sternal length, 2) PWV/AD ratio as an indirect index of characteristic impedance, 3) Th/r and LV mass (m) according to Teichholz formula: (table; see text) In both groups 1) m is significantly correlated with SAP (r = 0.67 p less than 0.001), PP (r = 0.61 p less than 0.001), PWV (r = 0.52 p less than 0.01) but not with PWV/AD; 2) Th/r ratio is significantly correlated with SAP (r = 0.64 p less than 0.001), PP (r = 0.63 p less than 0.001), PWV (r = 0.53 p less than 0.001) and PWV/AD (r = 0.41 p less than 0.05). Relationship between PWV and age of H is linear (r = 0.75 p less than 0.001) and shifted at left of that of N which is also linear (r = 0.061 p less than 0.05).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Adult↗