Pulmonary Function Test Lower Limit of Normal

Aka: Pulmonary Function Test Lower Limit of Normal, Spirometry Lower Limit of Normal, PFT LLN

advertisement

II. Indications

  1. Pulmonary Function Test Interpretation (Used in ATS Guidelines)

III. Background

  1. Based on Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES III) PFT data
  2. Calculated the lowest 5% (fifth percentile) cut-offs for FEV1 to FVC, FVC and FEV1
  3. Replaces GOLD Criteria which are less accurate
    1. Miss up to 50% of young adults with Obstructive Lung Disease and
    2. Overdiagnose Obstructive Lung Disease in healthy non-smokers
  4. Recently manufactured PFT software calculates the LLN based on patient age, gender and height

IV. Resources

  1. Spirometry Calculator (CDC NIOSH)
    1. https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/spirometry/refcalculator.html
  2. Online calculator
    1. http://hankconsulting.com/RefCal.html

V. References

  1. Johnson (2014) Am Fam Physician 89(5): 359-66 [PubMed]
  2. Mannino (2007) Thorax 62(3): 237-41 [PubMed]

Images: Related links to external sites (from Bing)

These images are a random sampling from a Bing search on the term "Pulmonary Function Test Lower Limit of Normal." Click on the image (or right click) to open the source website in a new browser window. Search Bing for all related images

Related Studies

Related Topics in Pathology and Laboratory Medicine

advertisement