Muhammad Younus, Asif Mehmood, Shamshad Rasul, Saulat Ullah Khan, Muhammad Khalid.
Role of spirometry in the diagnosis of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in smokers.
J Allama Iqbal Med Coll Jan ;7(4):11-9.

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a major health problem, and the number of patients with the disease is increasing. Cigarette smoking is the most important cause of COPD and significantly increases the progressive deterioration in lung functions. Therefore COPD is a preventable disease but usually diagnosed at a late stage. OBJECTIVE The objective of this study was to: Determine early detection of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in smokers using spirometry. STUDY DESIGN Cross sectional study. SETTING Institute of Chest Medicine, Mayo Hospital, Lahore. DURATION WITH DATES March 2007 to February 2008. METHODS One hundred smokers fulfilled the inclusion criteria were selected. Smoking history was asked and the number of pack years was calculated. Spirometry of all the subjects was performed on spirometer (Spirolab II). A study diagnosis of COPD was defined as airway obstruction as measured by FEV1/FVC <0.70. RESULTS In our study there were 78 (78%) smokers had history of cough, 56 (56%) smokers had history of sputum, 34 (34%) smokers had history of dyspnea and 18 (18%) smokers had physical signs of airflow obstruction. On spirometry 38 (38%) smokers had study diagnosis of COPD. Using the Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary disease (GOLD) severity criteria, 18 (18%) smokers had mild obstruction, 12 (12%) smokers had moderate obstruction and 8 (8%) smokers had severe obstruction. No smoker had very severe obstruction. CONCLUSIONS Spirometry helps for the early detection of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in smoker. Spirometric screening in current smokers with smoking history of more than 10 pack years can uncover a significant number of persons with spirometric signs of airflow obstruction.

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