From the Author:
I thank Prof. Lipworth and Dr. Kuo for their comments on our manuscript (1). Our attempt is the first of its kind to link patient-based computational models of the small airways with patient outcome measures. In line with the comments made by Prof. Lipworth with respect to resistance at 5 Hz (R5) − resistance at 20 Hz (R20) and asthma risk in cross-sectional studies, I and others recently reported the results of the ATLANTIS (Assessment of Small Airways Involvement in Asthma) study, a large multinational study evaluating the association of small airway disease with adult asthma outcomes (2).
ATLANTIS clearly identified that the oscillometry measure R5 − R20 was one of the strongest predictors of both asthma control and prior asthma exacerbations among all the potential small airway indices.
The combination of our findings (1) with the ATLANTIS study results (2) should now enable investigators to test interventions that target the small airways, with R5 − R20 as an outcome measure.
Footnotes
Originally Published in Press as DOI: 10.1164/rccm.201906-1274LE on July 24, 2019
Author disclosures are available with the text of this letter at www.atsjournals.org.
References
- 1.Foy BH, Soares M, Bordas R, Richardson M, Bell A, Singapuri A, et al. Lung computational models and the role of the small airways in asthma. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2019;200:982–991. doi: 10.1164/rccm.201812-2322OC. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
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