The ease of breathing test tracks clinical changes in cystic fibrosis

IntroductionThe EOB is a measure of dyspnea that correlates with CF pulmonary function and exercise tolerance, but has not been shown to track clinical changes.MethodsThe EOB was administered before and after treatment for twelve episodes of exacerbations in eleven pediatric CF subjects. Each subject performed the EOB Sustained Phonation and Single Breath Counting measures before and after treatment both at rest and after exercise.ResultsPhonation was significantly better pre-exercise after treatment than initially (Z = − 2.20, p = 0.028). Phonation post-exercise was longer at follow-up than pre- antibiotics (Z = − 1.91, p = 0.056). Changes in post-exercise Phonation correlated significantly with changes in FEV1 before and after treatment (R = 0.66, p = 0.020).ConclusionsThe EOB Sustained Phonation is a validated tool for tracking improvement of pediatric CF patients after antibiotic therapy and has potential as a research tool to gauge efficacy of new therapies.