Pulmonary Function Laboratory, St Joseph Hospital, Nashua, New Hampshire.
Respir Care. 2014 Jan;59(1):16-21. doi: 10.4187/respcare.02331. Epub 2013 Jun 25.
Elderly patients may be at greater risk for misdiagnosis and inappropriate treatment as a consequence of pulmonary function test underutilization and tests being conducted with low quality expectations. This study sought to determine if elderly patients are able to achieve both spirometry and diffusion capacity (DLCO) quality scores comparable to a younger adult population.
This was a retrospective review of pulmonary function data over a 22 month period. A list of every subject age ≥ 80 years (elderly group) and ages 40-50 years (control group) tested during the time period was compiled. The quality of spirometry and DLCO testing were examined.
Overall, 92.6% (139/150) of the elderly group and 91.5% (163/178) of the control group spirometry tests satisfied all American Thoracic Society/European Respiratory Society acceptability and reproducibility criteria (P = .84), and 84.9% (96/113) of the elderly group and 88.5% (108/122) of the control group DLCO tests satisfied all the acceptability and reproducibility criteria (P = .45).
Elderly patients referred to a hospital-based pulmonary function test lab can be expected to achieve spirometry and DLCO quality scores comparable to younger adult patients.
由于肺功能测试的利用率低以及测试质量期望低，老年患者可能面临更大的误诊和治疗不当的风险。本研究旨在确定老年患者是否能够达到与年轻成年人相当的肺活量计和扩散能力（DLCO）质量评分。
这是一项对 22 个月期间的肺功能数据进行的回顾性研究。编制了一份在此期间接受测试的所有年龄≥80 岁（老年组）和 40-50 岁（对照组）的受试者名单。检查了肺活量计和 DLCO 测试的质量。
总体而言，老年组 92.6%（139/150）和对照组 91.5%（163/178）的肺活量计测试符合美国胸科学会/欧洲呼吸学会的所有可接受性和可重复性标准（P=.84），老年组 84.9%（96/113）和对照组 88.5%（108/122）的 DLCO 测试符合所有可接受性和可重复性标准（P=.45）。
被转介到医院肺功能测试实验室的老年患者可以预期达到与年轻成年患者相当的肺活量计和 DLCO 质量评分。
