• Rogelio Pérez-Padilla, Juan Carlos Vázquez-García, María Nelly Márquez, José Roberto B Jardim, Julio Pertuzé, Carmen Lisboa, Adriana Muiño, María Victorina López, Carlos Tálamo, de Oca María Montes MM, Gonzalo Valdivia, Ana Maria B Menezes, and Latin American COPD Prevalence Study (PLATINO) Team.
• Instituto Nacional de Enfermedades Respiratorias, Tlalpan 4502, Distrito Federal, Ciudad de México, México 14080. perezpad@servidor.unam.mx
• Resp Care. 2006 Oct 1; 51 (10): 1167-71.

BackgroundWe report the performance of an ultrasound-based portable spirometer (EasyOne) used in a population-based survey of the prevalence of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, conducted in 5 Latin American cities: São Paulo, Brazil; México City, México; Montevideo, Uruguay; Santiago, Chile; and Caracas, Venezuela (the Latin American COPD Prevalence Study [PLATINO]).MethodsDuring the survey period (which ranged from 3 months to 6 months in the various locations) we collected daily calibration data from the 70 EasyOne spirometers used in the 5 survey cities. The calibrations were conducted with a 3-L syringe, and the calibration data were stored in the spirometer's database.ResultsNinety-seven percent of the calibration volumes were within +/- 64 mL (2.1%) of the 3-L calibration signal. Excluding data from the first city studied (São Paulo), where one calibration syringe had to be replaced, 98% of the calibration checks were within +/- 50 mL (1.7%). The measured volume was affected only minimally by the syringe's peak flow or emptying time.ConclusionIn these 70 EasyOne spirometers neither calibration nor linearity changed during the study. Such calibration stability is a valuable feature in spirometry surveys and in the clinical setting.

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