Changes in exhaled breath condensate pH in healthy and asthmatic pregnant women. (1st March 2013)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Eszes, Noémi; Bikov, András; Lázár, Zsófia; Bohács, Anikó; Müller, Veronika; Stenczer, Balázs; Rigó, János; Losonczy, György; Horváth, Ildikó; Tamási, Lilla
• Is Part Of: Acta obstetricia et gynecologica Scandinavica. Volume 92:Number 5(2013)
• Page Start: 591
• Page End: 597
• Publication Date: 2013-03-01
• Subjects: Gynecology -- Periodicals; Pregnancy -- Periodicals; Obstetrics -- Periodicals; 618.05
• DOI: 10.1111/aogs.12094
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0001-6349

Abstract

<abstract abstract-type="main" xml:lang="en" id="aogs12094-abs-0001"> <title>Abstract</title> <sec id="aogs12094-sec-0001" sec-type="section"> <title>Objective</title> <p>Asthma is a common chronic disease complicating pregnancy with a risk for perinatal complications. Control of airway inflammation in the asthmatic pregnancy improves pregnancy outcomes. Our aim was to evaluate pH of exhaled breath condensate (EBC), a non‐invasive method for the assessment of asthmatic airway inflammation, in healthy and asthmatic pregnancies.</p> </sec> <sec id="aogs12094-sec-0002" sec-type="section"> <title>Design</title> <p>Cross‐sectional study.</p> </sec> <sec id="aogs12094-sec-0003" sec-type="section"> <title>Setting</title> <p>Hungarian university clinics.</p> </sec> <sec id="aogs12094-sec-0004" sec-type="section"> <title>Population</title> <p>Seventeen healthy pregnant women, 21 asthmatic pregnant women, 23 healthy non‐pregnant women and 22 asthmatic non‐pregnant women.</p> </sec> <sec id="aogs12094-sec-0005" sec-type="section"> <title>Methods</title> <p>EBC samples were collected using a portable condenser, EBC pH was measured after argon deaeration.</p> </sec> <sec id="aogs12094-sec-0006" sec-type="section"> <title>Main outcome measure</title> <p>EBC pH.</p> </sec> <sec id="aogs12094-sec-0007" sec-type="section"> <title>Results</title> <p>EBC pH (mean ± SD) of healthy non‐pregnant and asthmatic non‐pregnant women was similar (7.75 ± 0.27 vs. 7.54 ± 0.57; <italic>p </italic>= 0.118), probably indicating an optimal control of airway inflammation in asthmatic women. On the other hand, EBC pH was higher in healthy pregnant women compared with healthy non‐pregnant women (8.02 ± 0.43 vs. 7.75 ± 0.27; <italic>p </italic>= 0.017). Higher EBC pH accompanying healthy pregnancy was absent in asthmatic pregnant patients whose EBC pH was lower (7.65 ± 0.38) than that of healthy pregnant women (<italic>p </italic>= 0.006), and it was similar to that in asthmatic and healthy non‐pregnant women (<italic>p </italic>= 0.470 and <italic>p </italic>= 0.300, respectively). The EBC pH in asthmatic pregnant women correlated positively with birthweight (<italic>r </italic>= 0.49, <italic>p </italic>= 0.047) and negatively with forced vital capacity (<italic>r </italic>= 0.45, <italic>p </italic>= 0.039). EBC pH was not related to blood pH.</p> </sec> <sec id="aogs12094-sec-0008" sec-type="section"> <title>Conclusions</title> <p>EBC pH is higher in healthy pregnant women but not in asthmatic pregnant women compared with data from healthy non‐pregnant women, indicating that oxidative inflammatory processes induced by asthma may compromise the regulatory mechanisms causing alkaline pH in the airways during pregnancy.</p> </sec> </abstract>