RESUMO
Bronchial reactivity to methacoline was examined in three groups of smokers (N=93): subjects with secondary inactive pulmonary tuberculosis (TPI) 2 years after beginning of treatment (N=44); subjects with asymptomatic chronic bronchitis (N=25) and healthy controls (N=24). Mean PC20FEV1 was 9.54 (SD 6.05), 11.12 (SD 5.42) and 13.74 (SD 4.7) respectively (tuberculosis vs control p<0.02). According to the arbitrary criteria for bronchial asthma, nonspecific hyperrreactivity was present in 50 percent of subjects with TPI, in 37.5 percent of bronchitis patients and in 16 percent of control subjects. No differences was found with regard to PC20FEV1, the chemotherapeutic regimen (9 or 12 months of therapy), results of tuberculin test (normo and hyperreactive) and X-ray findings determined before the onset of treatment. Mehalanobis statistical analysis with respect to smoking index, basal ventilatory function test and nonspecific bronchial reactivity grouped together healthy volunteers and subjects with a history of pulmonary tuberculosis apart from the group with asymptomatic chronic bronchitis