Five-year study of spa therapy for inpatients with bronchial asthma. Annual changes of characteristcs of asthmatics / 日本温泉気候物理医学会雑誌

ABSTRACT

Examinations to some extent were made on yearly transitions of 52 patients with bronchial asthma who were hospitalized in Misasa Medical Branch, Okayama University Medical School and received spa therapy during the five years from 1982 to 1986.<br>1) In the first two years (1982 to 1983), we had many patients from Okayama Prefecture. The majority of them had suffered from severe asthma attacks. They included a higher rate of cases of dependency on steroid-therapy as compared to those patients in the last three years (1984 to 1986). Some cases exhibited a remarkable airways obstruction in spite of high dosage of steroid hormone.<br>2) From 1984 to 1986, the patients with bronchial asthma from Tottori Prefecture increased. Their involvements were less severe with a lower dependency on steroid-therapy as compared to those hospitalized during the first two years.<br>3) Terms of hospitalization were generally reduced in the last two years as compared to the preceding three years. The average term was about two months from 1985 to 1986.<br>4) No difference in clinical symptoms based on the patient's age, age at onset, or asthma types was found between the first two years and the last three years.