Performance of a new screening spirometer at a community health fair

• Published in: Respiratory care Vol. 47; no. 10; p. 1150
• Main Authors: Schoh, Robin J, Fero, Laura J, Shapiro, Howard, Aslor, Jordan P, Kaelin, Oscar J, Rollins, Donald R, Petty, Thomas L
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States 01.10.2002
• Subjects: Adult; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Colorado; Female; Forced Expiratory Volume; Health Fairs; Hospitals, Community; Humans; Male; Mass Screening; Middle Aged; Monitoring, Ambulatory; Spirometry - instrumentation; Colorado
• ISSN: 0020-1324

Compare the results from a new screening spirometer (EasyOne) with the results from a standard laboratory spirometer (Vmax) approved by the American Thoracic Society. A health fair at a community hospital. We measured forced expiratory volume in the first second (FEV(1)) and forced expiratory volume in the first 6 seconds (FEV(6)). With the screening spirometer, good quality testing was achieved in 359 of 394 subjects (91%), and 115 subjects were also tested with the standard laboratory spirometer. The best test values for FEV(1) and FEV(6) were taken for 3 tests that agreed within 3%. FEV(6) was extrapolated from forced vital capacity on the printouts from the standard laboratory spirometer. Correlations between the screening spirometer results and the standard laboratory spirometer were excellent for FEV(1) (r = 0.93), FEV(6) (r = 0.96), and FEV(1)/FEV(6) (r = 0.72) (p = 0.001 for all comparisons). The 95% limits of agreement (mean difference between the 2 spirometers +/- 1.96 standard deviations) were: -0.18 and 0.69 for FEV(1); -0.24 and 0.81 for FEV(6); and -0.12 and 0.13 for FEV(1)/FEV(6). The new screening spirometer is suitable for clinical use.