Sputum induction with inhaled mannitol in children

(ENG) Mannitol is used as an indirect challenge test to assess airway hyperresponsiveness in asthmatic adults and children as young as 4 years old [1?4]. Recently, it has been tested with success in adults as a sputum inducer [5, 6]. In children, induced sputum is usually obtained by hypertonic saline solution (HSS) and has several indications, such as sample obtaining in infectious diseases [7], monitoring severe asthma [8] and defining asthma phenotypes [9]. To our knowledge there have been no studies about the use of mannitol to obtain induced sputum in children. The aim of this study was to assess the feasibility and safety of the mannitol challenge test to obtain induced sputum in young children. This pilot study is part of a project to study bronchial responsiveness and inflammation in asthmatic and nonasthmatic skier children. This is a cross-sectional, observational and descriptive study. Healthy and asthmatic children (7?13 years old) were randomly selected from a ski club (Ordino Arcalís Ski Club, Ordino Arcalís, Andorra). The study was approved by the Ethics Committee of Nostra Senyora de Meritxell Hospital (Escaldes-Engordany, Andorra), and written informed consent from parents as well as authorisations from the ski club were obtained for participation in the study.