Is delayed introduction of inhaled corticosteroids harmful in patients with obstructive airways disease (asthma and COPD)?
Our study indicates that although delayed introduction of inhaled CS in asthmatics leads to similar improvements in FEV1, improvements in PC20 are significantly less. These findings in patients with longer-existing asthma concur with other findings in newly detected asthma. We suggest that institution of inhaled CS therapy should not be postponed in asthmatics with documented airways obstruction and reversibility.
Patient age, IGF-I, BMI, and number of PHDs are efficient factors associated with the diagnosis of GHD. A 4 h GST with a diagnostic GH threshold of 1.07 µg/L seems to be a good diagnostic method for GHD.