A step too far for asthmatics

NEW YORK, Aug 28 (Praxis Press). Despite similar degrees of airflow obstruction, patients with past or present asthma, either with or without chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), walk more slowly than patients with COPD. Laszlo and colleagues studied twelve-minute walking speed (hurrying) and lung function in twenty-four patients with COPD, ten patients with asthma, four patients with both COPD and asthma, and eighteen healthy controls. Most of the difference (70%) in walking speeds between the patients could be explained by two factors: forced expiratory volume at 1 second (FEV1) and a previous history of bronchial asthma. Walking speeds in patients with a history of asthma that are slower than predicted walking speeds may simply be a residual adaptive behavior.