Testing your lungs: spirometry

Abstract

Your healthcare professional will show you how to blow into the spirometer before you begin. You may need to wear a soft clip over your nose to stop air out leaking out of your nostrils. Before starting the examination, you might be asked to breathe in deeply and extinct gently into the spirometer. You will then be asked to blow at least three times, but normally no more than 10 times, into the spirometer .

What is spirometry?

A spirometry examination measures how healthy your lungs are and can be used to help diagnose and monitor lung conditions. During the screen, you will breathe out a a lot air as you can, a hard as you can, into a device called a spirometer. The test measures how much vent you can blow out in total and how much air you can blow out in the first second of the test. The test should not be painful and normally takes less than 10 minutes .

Should you take a test?

Yes, if :

• You smoke, or you used to smoke
• You cough a lot
• You become abruptly of hint when walking quickly
• You are concern about the health of your lungs
• You are already receiving treatment for a lung stipulate

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What happens during the test?

Your healthcare professional will show you how to blow into the spirometer before you begin. You may need to wear a indulgent snip over your nose to stop air leaking out of your nostrils. Before starting the test, you might be asked to breathe in profoundly and out gently into the spirometer. You will then be asked to blow at least three times, but normally no more than 10 times, into the spirometer. During the spirometry screen, you must :

• Breathe in arsenic deeply as you can and place your lips tightly around the mouthpiece .
• Try your hardest and blast out your air ampere cursorily as possible .
• Keep blowing out until your lungs are empty and your healthcare professional tells you to stop .

Understanding your results

Your healthcare professional will use your results ( FEV1 and FVC ) to decide how well your lungs are working. If the amount of air you can blow out during the inaugural second is broken, you may have a pin down of your airways, possibly due to asthma or chronic clogging lung disease ( COPD ). If you are already receiving treatment for asthma or COPD ( such as an inhaler ), the spirometry test can be used to check that the treatment is helping your lungs to work angstrom well as potential. The test may besides be utilitarian to rule out some early lung conditions. Healthcare professionals use charts to understand how your results compare to a “ normal measurement ”. Imagine that 100 people of the lapp age, arouse and altitude as you had taken the screen, you can see where your results fit within this group and therefore how healthy your lungs are. The lung growth charts were developed by the Global Lung Function Initiative using information on lung function from people around the world .Open in a separate window

What does this mean for your results?

For every person, there is a compass of results that is considered normal for your long time and acme. For example, if your lung function was normal for your senesce, altitude, sex and ethnic background it may look like the word picture on the leave. however, if you a had lung condition that needed treatment it may look like the painting on the right.

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How should you prepare for the test?

The results of your test could be affected by certain activities, like smoke, drinking coffee bean, doing strenuous use and eating a boastfully meal, ahead. If you take medications for a lung stipulate, you may be asked to not use them for a fit amount of time before the trial. Ask your healthcare professional in boost of the screen how you can prepare .

Problems you might have during the test

The hard blows needed for this test are difficult for some people. If you become bore or lightheaded during the test, necessitate for a match of minutes to catch your breath before trying again. Some people may find that the quiz makes them want to cough. If this happens, try and clear your breast before you try again .

What happens if the test results look abnormal or if you have a lung condition?

Your healthcare professional may ask you to inhale a medication that helps with breathe, wait 10-15 minutes and then repeat the trial. This helps them to see whether any damage to the lungs is reversible and whether a prescription drug for an inhaler is likely to improve your emit. How you respond to this medicine, known as a bronchodilator, may besides help the doctor to tell whether you have asthma ( which will improve after the bronchodilator ) or COPD ( which shows less improvement ) .

My test results are normal – does that mean I am healthy?

If you have had asthma-like symptoms in the past but the results of your spirometry quiz are normal, you may silent have asthma. If you smoke, or breathe in hazards like dusts, smoke, fumes or chemicals at bring, and your results are normal, you are even at a high risk of different lung conditions and should do a much as you can to protect your lungs. It is never besides late to give up fume, and there is support available – ask your healthcare professional how they can help you to quit. The ELF web site has lots of information and tips on quitting smoking which you can download in a range of languages, so this could be a dear space to start .

Will I need any more tests?

The spirometry test is an crucial measuring stick of lung function. If your symptoms vary ( for example with asthma ) you may be asked to repeat the test at unlike times, in which shell you could take note of your results so you know what is a convention solution for you. If you have an ongoing lung condition regular spirometry may be used to monitor it. In accession, you may be asked to carry out some more tests if the doctor needs to investigate further. further. spirometry can besides be function of other lung function testing, like an exercise trial or a bronchial challenge test .Open in a separate window

Further reading

• European Lung Foundation website: www.europeanlung.org For more data on lung conditions and how to look after your lungs .
• Healthy Lungs for Life website: www.healthylungsforlife.org Find out more about the Healthy Lungs for Life campaign, and get information information on the importance of clean air, physical activity and stopping smoking for your lungs .
• Global Lung Function Initiative: www.ers-education.org/guidelines/global-lung-function-initiative

  Read more: Is Bone Broth Good for You?

  Learn more about the Global Lung Function Initiative, through which a group of researchers and clinicians are developing reference values for lung affair tests to make certain that your test result is accurate, by collecting data on lung function from people around the worldly concern .

The european Lung Foundation ( ELF ) was founded by the european Respiratory Society ( ERS ), with the draw a bead on of bringing in concert patients, the public and respiratory professionals to positively influence respiratory medicine. ELF is dedicated to lung health throughout Europe, and draws together the leading European aesculapian experts to provide patient information and raise populace awareness about lung disease. This material was primitively compiled with the help oneself of ERS spirometry adept Paul Enright, MD. It was reviewed in July 2018 as depart of the Global Lung Function Initiative with the help of Sanja Stanojevic, PhD and Professor Graham Hall .