Quality of Life and Bronchial Hyper-Responsiveness in Subjects With Bronchiectasis: Validation of the Seattle Obstructive Lung Disease Questionnaire in Bronchiectasis.

Background: Bronchiectasis can adversely affect quality of life. However, the tests examining quality of life in bronchiectasis are not sufficient. We examined the validity of a measure designed for COPD, the Seattle Obstructive Lung Disease Questionnaire (SOLQ), in bronchiectasis.

Obstructive airway diseases in women exposed to biomass smoke.

The majority of women living in rural areas in Turkey use biomass fuels for domestic energy and are exposed to high levels of indoor air pollution every day. The objective of this study was to compare the presence of chronic airway diseases (CAD) in two groups of nonsmoking women older than 40 years with (exposed group, n=397) and without a history of exposure to biomass cooking (liquid petroleum gas (LPG); control group, n=199), in 2002 in Kirikkale, Turkey. Detailed respiratory symptoms were collected with a standard questionnaire adapted from that of the British Medical Research Council.

Psychological status and quality of life in elderly patients with asthma.

The psychological status and quality of life of 70 stable patients with asthma age > or =60 years and 40 age-matched comparison subjects were examined. The patients with long-standing asthma (duration > or = 8 years) had lower quality-of-life scores than those with recent-onset asthma (duration < 8 years). In multivariate linear regression analysis with adjustment for age, gender duration of disease, and level of bronchial hyperreactivity, worse quality of life was predicted by anxiety, depression, and asthma severity scores.

Respiratory findings in gun factory workers exposed to solvents.

Objective: Gun factory workers are exposed to many solvents (toluene, acetone, butanol, xylene, benzene, trichloroethylene). We investigated whether chronic exposure to solvents had adverse effect on respiratory system.

Material And Methods: The workers were questionnaired by modified Medical Research Council's respiratory questionnaire before morning start shift.

Perception of bronchoconstriction in obstructive pulmonary diseases (disease-specific dyspnoea).

The perception of dyspnoea differs between subjects with obstructive pulmonary diseases, partly because the underlying mechanisms for bronchoconstriction are different. We investigated the perception of bronchoconstriction in subjects with bronchiectasis, asthma and chronic bronchitis and possible contributing factors. Forty-seven non-smoking subjects with bronchiectasis, 50 subjects with asthma and 31 with chronic bronchitis were challenged with histamine.