Hyperinflation on hyperventilation-a simple test to detect early airway disease.

The hypothesis was raised that an increased end-expiratory lung volume when switching over from normal to hyperventilation (positive delta FRC) can be used as a criterion of early obstructive lung disease. In 20 normal subjects and in 24 patients with suspect or manifest lung disease delta FRC at breathing frequencies of 40, 60 and 80 min-1, forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1), vital capacity (VC), maximal expiratory flow at 50 and 25% of VC (MEF50 and MEF25) and closing volume (CV) were determined. FEV% (FEV1 X VC-1 X 100) and CV% (CV X VC-1 X 100) were calculated. delta FRC40 correlated negatively with FEV%, MEF50 and MEF25 for normals and patients separately with no difference between the groups. The residual standard deviation of delta FRC40 on FEV% was significantly reduced when MEF50 and MEF25 was included. delta FRC40 did not correlate with CV or CV%. delta FRC60 and delta FRC80 did not correlate with MEF50 and MEF25. The reproducibility of delta FRC40 was of the same order as the other variables studied. A delta FRC40 of +0.31 corresponded to MEF50 and MEF25 values 2 SD below the reference value. This suggests that a positive delta FRC40 of more than 0.31 indicates airway obstruction.