1984 Volume 35 Issue 3 Pages 233-240
It is recognized that some patients with chronic respiratory diseases, such as emphysema, bronchial asthma or chronic bronchitis, manifest respiratory symptoms when they enter a cold environment suddenly. Mikami has already reported these symptoms as cold-air inhalation phenomenon. In order to research the mechanism of this phenomenon, 34 asthmatics and 10 normal controls were subjected to clinical evaluation and respiratory function tests after breathing cold air, (a) by a nose mask (nasal breathing), (b) through a mouthpiece (oral breathing) using a new apparatus which produces cold air. The results were as follows:
1) Cold-air inhalation by a nose mask produced respiratory symptoms in 3 of 34 asthmatics with slightly decreased FEV1.
2) Cold-air inhalation through a mouthpiece produced respiratory symptoms in 24 of the 34 asthmatics with sigaificantly decreased FVC, FEV1, FEV1%, PEFR and V50.
3) Normal controls were not affected by cold-air inhalation either by a nose mask or through a mouthpiece.
The results indicate that cold-air inhalation phenomenon would be produced by breathing cold air through the oral route.
