• N Barbarito, A Vaghi, and E De Mattia.
• Respiratory Unit, Santa Corona Hospital, AO Salvini, Garbagnate Milanese (MI), Italy. nicola.barbarito@yahoo.it
• Monaldi Arch Chest Dis. 2011 Sep 1;75(3):157-61.

AimTo evaluate in a Pulmonary Rehabilitation (PR) setting the prevalence of airflow obstruction (AO) in either current or former smokers > or = 45 years old both with dyspnoea and with chronic productive cough, using European Respiratory society (ERS) statement (FEV1/SVC < 88 and < 89% predicted in men and women, respectively), American Thoracic Society (ATS) statement (FEV1/FVC < 75%), and Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) statement (FEV1/FVC < 70%).MethodsLung function tests were performed in each patient who was referred to our PR department due to respiratory diagnosis or symptoms. For analysis, in patients showing AO we used post-bronchodilator lung function values.ResultsIn 184 ever-smoker patients with symptoms of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), the prevalence rates of AO were as follows: ERS = 89.7%, ATS = 76.6%, and GOLD = 63.6%. Patients with AO according ERS criteria showing moderate to severe (M/S) obstruction (i.e., FEV1 < 70% predicted) were 119. Patients with ERS M/S AO but without AO using either ATS or GOLD criteria were 8.4% and 19.3%, respectively.ConclusionsPrevalence of AO is highly dependent on which guidelines it is based. ATS and particularly GOLD statement can cause a large under-diagnosis even of moderate to severe COPD. Diagnosis of COPD may be overlooked if SVC is not performed.

17 keywords...

hide…