© 2003 BMJ Publishing Group Ltd & British Thoracic Society
EDITORIAL
Outcome measures in COPD
Outcome measures in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)
Department of Respiratory Medicine, Gentofte University Hospital, DK-2900 Hellerup, Denmark; adi@dadlnet.dk
Lung density determined by CT scanning may be a useful outcome measure in COPD
Keywords: chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; computed tomography; lung densitometry; outcome measures
| The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below. |
Forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1) is by far the most well established outcome variable in obstructive pulmonary disease. Numerous studies have documented the correlation of this parameter with clinical variables such as severity of disease and mortality,1 and spirometric measurements have been standardised by international recommendations on lung function testing.2 Nevertheless, in real life the relevance of a maximal blow through a narrow tube is not always self-evident, and the intuitive clinical meaningfulness of this surrogate parameter is therefore perhaps less obvious. FEV1 has further limitations in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). In general, dynamic lung volumes such as FEV1 and forced vital capacity (FVC) are highly effort dependent. However, in emphysematous subjects an abnormally low FEV1 is partly caused by the dynamic collapse of the airways which is also effort dependent. Therefore, in COPD the result of a more moderated manoeuvre is
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Thorax 2003 58: 1007.[Extract] [Full Text] [PDF]
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