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Background/Aim. Corticosteroids are the most frequently prescribed anti-inflammatory treatment in asthma. A purpose of this study was to compare the spirometric parameters as a response to inhaled fluticasone propionate (FP) treatment in children with asthma, exposed and nonexposed to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS). Methods. The study included 527 children aged between 1 and 16 years with persistent asthma divided into the groups of ETS exposed (ETSE, n = 337) and ETS free (ETSF, n = 190) children. Spirometry was performed before (1st set of results) and after 6 months of FP treatment (2nd set of results). Good lung function (GLF) was defined as forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1) ≥ 85%, and “poor lung function” (PLF) as FEV1 < 85%. Results. Among the ETSE children, 208 had one smoking parent, 129 had two, 228 had smoking mothers and 238 smoking fathers. The ETSE children received a higher FP dose (p < 0.0001) which was increased with the increase of the number of smokers in the family. The ETSE children had significantly lower lung function both in the 1st and 2nd sets of tests compared to the ETSF children (p < 0.05). After the FP treatment, both groups improved all spirometric parameters (p < 0.001). In the 2nd set of the spirometric tests, the children of smoking mothers had lower spirometry values compared to the children of smoking fathers (p < 0.05). The proportion of the children improving from the PLF to GLF after 6 months of FP was much higher among the ETSF than the ETSE children (p < 0.05). Conclusions. The ETSE children had lower spirometric values before FP. After 6-months of the FP treatment children in both groups improved the spirometric values, but the improvement was higher in the ETSF children. [Project of the Serbian Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development, Grant no. 41004]

Background/Aim. Asthma still remains poorly controlled in the majority of patients. The Asthma Control Test (ACT) is a short and useful patient-administered questionnaire for identification of patients with poor asthma control in clinical settings. The aim of this study was to validate a Serbian version of the ACT in the adults with asthma. Methods. A total of 250 consecutive adult asthmatic patients were recruited in a prospective observational study. The exclusion criteria were chronic respiratory disease and acute respiratory tract infection in preceding 4 weeks. Results. The spirometry and ACT questionnaire were performed on the baseline visit and 6 months later. The ACT test was completed by 98.8% of patients with the mean time of completion of 4.5 minutes. The correlation of ACT score and lung function parameters (forced expiratory volume in 1 second ? FEV1 and forced vital capacity ? FVC) was significant (p = 0.016 and p = 0.002, respectively). A change in the ACT scores between baseline and 6- months visit was not associated with a change in FVC and FEV1. The ACT score had excellent diagnostic accuracy according to the physicians asthma control classification and even outstanding accuracy according to the patients? classification. Conclusion. The results of this study confirm the reliability, validity and accuracy of Serbian version of the ACT, contributing to established value of original ACT test and with consistent findings as the previously reported validity of ACT in other languages. Therefore, it should be utilized more in everyday clinical practice as a useful and reliable tool of asthma control assessment.

Introduction: Adolescents with asthma are at two-fold higher risk of psychological disorders such as anxiety and depression. Limited data are available investigating asthma control, depression and anxiety in young adults with asthma. The aim of this study was to investigate relationship between asthma control, lung function, depression and anxiety in students with asthma. Methods: Study was conducted at the Students Health Care Institute Belgrade, Serbia and included 210 students with asthma, stratified in two groups by Asthma Control Test (ACT) score: at-least-well-controlled (ALWC) and not-well-controlled (NWC) asthma. All subjects underwent spirometry and psychometric testing by assessing Beck’s Depression Index (BDI) and Beck’s Anxiety Inventory (BAI). Results: No differences were found in sociodemographic variables between studied groups. Significantly lower lung function parameters (FEV1 (%), MEF50 (%) and MEF25 (%)) were detected in NWC vs. ALWC group (p Conclusion: Common psychological disorders such as anxiety and depression could negatively affect asthma control. Those conditions should be sought in students with poorly controlled asthma, and be included into overall asthma management.

Background: Over the last three decades the prevalence of respiratory disease has been increasing worldwide. Recent studies have been shown that the prevalence of asthma in West European ranges from 6 to 9%, while of COPD is 8% worldwide. Despite the large number of epidemiological studies, there are only a few studies about the prevarence of chronic respiratory diseases among students. Objective: The aim of the study was to estimate the prevalence of respiratory symptoms among University Students in Belgrade, Serbia. Methods: We used a questionnaire based on the European Community Respiratory Health Survey (ERCHS) protocol to collect data. Results: We have analysed respiratory symptoms in 5045 University students in Belgrade, mean age 21.5±1.7 years, 55.3% female. The majority of subjects were non-smokers (73.6%), but there were 26.4% current and 3.3% ex smokers. The most frequent symptoms were longstanding cough (17.2%), sputum production (12.1%), wheezing (10.3%) and morning cough (5.7%). Respiratory symptoms were more frequent in smokers than non-smokers (p vs 19.1%, p Conclusion: The prevalence of respiratory symptoms and smoking cigarettes among university students in Belgrade is high.