American Journal of Internal Medicine

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Spirometery and Its Application in Medical Practice for Diagnosis and Management of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) Patients in Karachi, Pakistan

Received: 24 May 2015    Accepted: 29 May 2015    Published: 11 June 2015
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Abstract

Introduction: Spirometry is important in the diagnosis and management of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), yet it is a common clinical observation that it is underused though the extent is unclear. This survey aims to examine the use of spirometry in the diagnosis and management of COPD patients in districts of, Karachi. Material and Methods: It is a cross-sectional survey involving four clinic settings: hospital-based respiratory specialist clinic, hospital-based mixed medical specialist clinic, general outpatient clinic (primary care), and tuberculosis and chest clinic. Thirty physician-diagnosed COPD patients were randomly selected from each of the four clinic groups. All of them had a forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1) to forced vital capacity (FVC) ratio less than 0.70 and had been followed up at the participating clinic for at least 6 months for COPD treatment. Results: Of the 120 COPD patients, there were 111 males and mean post-bronchodilator FEV1 was 46.2% predicted. Only 22 patients (18.3%) had spirometry done during diagnostic workup, and 64 patients (53.3%) had spirometry done ever. Conclusion: We conclude that spirometry is underused in general but especially by non-respiratory physicians and family physicians in the management of COPD patients. More effort at educating the medical community is urgently needed.

DOI 10.11648/j.ajim.20150303.19
Published in American Journal of Internal Medicine (Volume 3, Issue 3, May 2015)
Page(s) 146-152
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Guidelines, Pulmonary Function Tests, FEV1, FVC

References
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Author Information
  • Department of Physiology, Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto Medical College, Karachi, Pakistan

  • Department of Pathology, Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto Medical College, Karachi, Pakistan

  • Department of Community Health Sciences, Ziauddin University, Karachi, Pakistan

  • Department of Physiology, University of Sindh, Jamshoro, Sindh, Pakistan

  • Department of Obstetrics &Gynaecology, Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi, Pakistan

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  • APA Style

    Muhammad Noman Rashid, Izhar Fatima, Farha Ahmed, Ali Muhammad Soomro, Beenish Noman. (2015). Spirometery and Its Application in Medical Practice for Diagnosis and Management of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) Patients in Karachi, Pakistan. American Journal of Internal Medicine, 3(3), 146-152. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajim.20150303.19

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    ACS Style

    Muhammad Noman Rashid; Izhar Fatima; Farha Ahmed; Ali Muhammad Soomro; Beenish Noman. Spirometery and Its Application in Medical Practice for Diagnosis and Management of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) Patients in Karachi, Pakistan. Am. J. Intern. Med. 2015, 3(3), 146-152. doi: 10.11648/j.ajim.20150303.19

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    AMA Style

    Muhammad Noman Rashid, Izhar Fatima, Farha Ahmed, Ali Muhammad Soomro, Beenish Noman. Spirometery and Its Application in Medical Practice for Diagnosis and Management of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) Patients in Karachi, Pakistan. Am J Intern Med. 2015;3(3):146-152. doi: 10.11648/j.ajim.20150303.19

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  • @article{10.11648/j.ajim.20150303.19,
      author = {Muhammad Noman Rashid and Izhar Fatima and Farha Ahmed and Ali Muhammad Soomro and Beenish Noman},
      title = {Spirometery and Its Application in Medical Practice for Diagnosis and Management of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) Patients in Karachi, Pakistan},
      journal = {American Journal of Internal Medicine},
      volume = {3},
      number = {3},
      pages = {146-152},
      doi = {10.11648/j.ajim.20150303.19},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajim.20150303.19},
      eprint = {https://download.sciencepg.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ajim.20150303.19},
      abstract = {Introduction: Spirometry is important in the diagnosis and management of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), yet it is a common clinical observation that it is underused though the extent is unclear. This survey aims to examine the use of spirometry in the diagnosis and management of COPD patients in districts of, Karachi. Material and Methods: It is a cross-sectional survey involving four clinic settings: hospital-based respiratory specialist clinic, hospital-based mixed medical specialist clinic, general outpatient clinic (primary care), and tuberculosis and chest clinic. Thirty physician-diagnosed COPD patients were randomly selected from each of the four clinic groups. All of them had a forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1) to forced vital capacity (FVC) ratio less than 0.70 and had been followed up at the participating clinic for at least 6 months for COPD treatment. Results: Of the 120 COPD patients, there were 111 males and mean post-bronchodilator FEV1 was 46.2% predicted. Only 22 patients (18.3%) had spirometry done during diagnostic workup, and 64 patients (53.3%) had spirometry done ever. Conclusion: We conclude that spirometry is underused in general but especially by non-respiratory physicians and family physicians in the management of COPD patients. More effort at educating the medical community is urgently needed.},
     year = {2015}
    }
    

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  • TY  - JOUR
    T1  - Spirometery and Its Application in Medical Practice for Diagnosis and Management of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) Patients in Karachi, Pakistan
    AU  - Muhammad Noman Rashid
    AU  - Izhar Fatima
    AU  - Farha Ahmed
    AU  - Ali Muhammad Soomro
    AU  - Beenish Noman
    Y1  - 2015/06/11
    PY  - 2015
    N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajim.20150303.19
    DO  - 10.11648/j.ajim.20150303.19
    T2  - American Journal of Internal Medicine
    JF  - American Journal of Internal Medicine
    JO  - American Journal of Internal Medicine
    SP  - 146
    EP  - 152
    PB  - Science Publishing Group
    SN  - 2330-4324
    UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajim.20150303.19
    AB  - Introduction: Spirometry is important in the diagnosis and management of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), yet it is a common clinical observation that it is underused though the extent is unclear. This survey aims to examine the use of spirometry in the diagnosis and management of COPD patients in districts of, Karachi. Material and Methods: It is a cross-sectional survey involving four clinic settings: hospital-based respiratory specialist clinic, hospital-based mixed medical specialist clinic, general outpatient clinic (primary care), and tuberculosis and chest clinic. Thirty physician-diagnosed COPD patients were randomly selected from each of the four clinic groups. All of them had a forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1) to forced vital capacity (FVC) ratio less than 0.70 and had been followed up at the participating clinic for at least 6 months for COPD treatment. Results: Of the 120 COPD patients, there were 111 males and mean post-bronchodilator FEV1 was 46.2% predicted. Only 22 patients (18.3%) had spirometry done during diagnostic workup, and 64 patients (53.3%) had spirometry done ever. Conclusion: We conclude that spirometry is underused in general but especially by non-respiratory physicians and family physicians in the management of COPD patients. More effort at educating the medical community is urgently needed.
    VL  - 3
    IS  - 3
    ER  - 

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