Interpretation of Tests
Professional societies such as the American Thoracic Society/ European Respiratory Society have published guidelines regarding conduct and interpretation of pulmonary function testing to ensure standardization and uniformity in performance of tests. The interpretation of tests depends on comparing the patients values to published normals from previous studies. Deviation from guidelines can result in false-positive or false negative test results. Mohanka MR et. al recently demonstrated that only a small minority of pulmonary function laboratories followed published guidelines for spirometry, lung volumes and diffusing capacity in 2012. Ref. A survey of practices of pulmonary function interpretation in laboratories in Northeast Ohio Mohanka MR, et al. Chest. 2012;141(4):1040-1046
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