There is little concordance between guidelines regarding the bronchodilator reversibility test assessment standards [11, 12]. Few studies were designed to determine the optimum bronchodilator drug for the reversibility test [8, 9]. The present study takes precedence in comparing the effect of salbutamol versus fluticasone/salmeterol combination on early reversibility test and identifies the impact of body mass index on the spirometric outcomes.
One of the deleterious consequences of obesity is respiratory function impairment. However, the effect of BMI on spirometry was controversial in many clinical trials. The results of the present study showed lower spirometric values with the increase in BMI. In agreement with our results, many studies reported a consistent decrease in FEV1, FVC, and FEV1/FVC ratio with increased BMI [13, 14]. Contradictory to our results, a positive correlation of BMI with FVC values was reported amongst obese individuals in other studies, contributing to this correlation to muscularity effect with age and height dependence [15, 16]. However, this effect was marked in group II and III obesity. This variability from our results can be attributed to dealing with obese subjects as a group without sub-categorization.
Overweight and obese subjects are more prone to misdiagnose asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) [17, 18]. The bronchodilator reversibility test is one of the lung laboratory's most common diagnostic tools. Since the extent of response can be affected by several parameters such as the bronchodilator type and dose, the administration technique, and the elapsed duration till the assessment of bronchodilator response, the method applied for the assessment of reversibility may be fundamental. However, there are no evidence-based standards regarding bronchodilator selection or the timing of post-bronchodilator response estimation [12, 19].
Short-acting- β2 agonists such as salbutamol or anticholinergics are commonly bronchodilators used for early reversibility testing in patients with suspected obstructive pulmonary disease. Long acting β2 agonists have also been reported to exhibit a short-term action, and they can be applied for early reversibility tests. Using LABAs/ inhaled corticosteroids in early reversibility testing results in more remarkable improvement in FEV1 in patients with obstructive lung diseases [9]. In concordance with our results which revealed that fluticasone and salmeterol combination was associated with more remarkable improvement in FEV1, FEV1% of predicted and FEV1/FVC compared to salbutamol only in all subjects. However, these outcomes were only statistically significant in obese subjects.
Moreover, the percentage of patients with a positive reversibility test was higher in the salmeterol/fluticasone group. The difference in the extent of the bronchodilation effect between the study groups may be explained by the combination of bronchodilators that can help in bronchial dilation with different mechanisms and hence, enhance the airway response.
However, in normal/overweight subjects, salbutamol inhaler can sufficiently achieve bronchodilation response which is not significantly lower than that achieved by LABA/ corticosteroids combination in early reversibility test, in contrast to obese subjects which need a combination of bronchodilator medications to increase the extent of bronchial airways dilation [20, 21] due to the mechanical effect of obesity on the respiratory airways [5]. It is worth noting that obesity was associated with lower responsiveness to different types of inhaled corticosteroids, including beclomethasone and budesonide, in obese asthmatic patients [22, 23]. Unlike fluticasone propionate, which showed significant efficacy in FEV1 improvement regardless of the body weight [24].
Therefore, we suggest that salmeterol/fluticasone inhalation can be used in early reversibility testing instead of salbutamol to improve spirometry values and more reliable outcomes, especially in obese subjects.
Although the present study takes precedence in assessing the effect of fluticasone/salmeterol inhalation in early reversibility testing compared with the conventional approach of using salbutamol among obese participants, the study has several limitations.
Firstly, only drug choice was investigated in this study with a limitation of the measurement timing to 15 minutes after bronchodilator administration, which may be inadequate for accurately determining the maximal bronchodilation response. Secondly, the study was designed as a parallel-group study rather than a cross-over design, which may result in bias due to inter-individual variability and lack of reproducibility due to the implications of many factors such as the maneuver of inhaler use and measurement timing. Thirdly, the study lacks follow-up to ensure the sensitivity and accuracy of this modified approach to the bronchodilator reversibility test. Further extensive randomized studies with cross-over design and follow-up are warranted to validate the outcomes of this combination in obese patients.