Abstract

Background. Under local cooling of airways people may have central and peripheral vasomotor responses. We aimed to assess the cardiovascular response to short-time airway challenge with cold air in asthmatics of different age. Methods. 224 patients with mild to moderate asthma were examined. The level of asthma control was assessed by Asthma Control Test (ACT). Baseline FEV₁, heart rate (HR) and  blood pressure (BP) before and after 3-minute isocapnic hyperventilation with cold (-20º?) air (IHCA) were measured. Results. In correspondence with age periodization of WHO (2016) the 1^st group included 175 young patients (18-44 years old, mean age 31.6±0.6), the 2^nd group included 49 patients of the middle age (45-59 years old, mean age 50.5±0.6). The level of asthma control, baseline lung function and HR did not have any significant differences between groups (??? 15.9±0.41 vs. 14.6±0.92 points, ?=0.16; FEV₁ 92.7±1.4 vs. 94.3±3.1%, ?=0.63; HR 64.3±2.3 vs. 65.3±1.1 beat/min, ?=0.77). The airway response (?FEV₁) to IHCA on average was -10.20±0.99 vs. -7.62±1.79% in patients of the 1^st and 2^nd groups, respectively (?=0.22). The baseline values of systolic and diastolic  BP in the 1^st group were lower than in the 2^nd group: 110.7±0.9/72.1±0.8 vs. 116.9±1.4/76.6±1.1 mmHG, respectively (?=0.0003/0.000001). After IHCA there were not found any changes of BP in the patients of the 1^st group (110.7±1.0/72.4 mmHG), whereas the patients of the 2^nd group had a significant BP increase till 121.8±1.8/78.9±1.3 mmHG (?=0.003/0.00001). Conclusion. In asthma patients of middle age a short-time isocapnic hyperventilation with cold air leads to the increase of the blood pressure