Lung testing performed on the occasion of World Spirometry Day shows an increase in the number of cases of abnormal lung funtion. Early diagnosis is the key to help people identify the debilitating condition before too much damage is done, giving them a chance to slow the disease’s progression before it completely ruins their lung function.
At a free lung testing event taking place in Birmingham, UK, on the occasion of COPD8 conference, the European COPD Coalition and the European Lung Foundation (ELF), in cooperation with local hospitals, tested a total of 180 subjects in a 4 hour period. Of these, 9 showed evidence of small airways obstruction (FEV1/FVC90%) and 15 showed some restrictive pattern (FEV1/FVC >90%).. However detailed analysis of gender, %predicted data, and PEF etc, is not currently available.
Based on FEV1/FVC analysis alone 13% of the people tested (24/180) showed abnormal lung function, but this figure will rise when age adjusted values (LLN) are calculated.
Altough the size of the test, the population tested and the outcomes are not sufficient to draw any clear conclusions, the number of people refered to a lung specialist is indicative of the scale of the problem and should alarm health authorities and trigger action.
More information in the article published in the Huffington Post (UK version) by ECC.