Airway challenge test with propranolol

We investigated airway response to propranolol in 48 asthmatics, 17 subjects with chronic bronchitis and 19 normal subjects. The positive rate for propranolol challenge was 93.8% in asthma group, 5.9% in chronic bronchitis group while none in normal group had positive response. The challenge was highly reproducible, and it had few side-effects. This indicated that the challenge was specific and sensitive in diagnosis of asthma, it was a safe, reliable method of measuring non-specific airway responsiveness. Furthermore we also demonstrated that PC20 for propranolol did not relate to PC20 for methacholine, and that the calibre of airway did not significantly influence the airway response to propranolol.