title: Pulmonary auscultation terminology employed in Brazilian medical journals between January of 1980 and December of 2003.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the appropriateness of the use of auscultation terminology in Brazilian respiratory disease-related medical journals published between January of 1980 and December of 2003.
  
  
  METHODS
  A descriptive study was conducted, evaluating three medical journals: the Jornal de Pneumologia (Journal of Pulmonology), Jornal de Pediatria (Journal of Pediatrics) and Revista Brasileira de Medicina (Brazilian Journal of Medicine). Original articles and case reports about respiratory diseases were selected, and auscultation terminology was extracted from these articles. The appropriateness of terms used to describe adventitious sounds was assessed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We found that the inappropriate use of terms was more frequent when intermittent sounds were described than when continuous sounds were described (87.7% versus 44.0%; p = 0.0000). No significant difference was observed between the inappropriate use of terms by pulmonologists and that observed for other specialists (56.5% versus 62.0%; p = 0.26). In addition, there were no significant differences among the various regions of the country or between the periods prior to and after the dissemination of international nomenclature.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Inappropriate use of pulmonary auscultation terms describing adventitious sounds remains common and widespread in Brazilian medical publications.
authors.affiliation: Federal University of Rio Grande, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.
authors.forename: Kamila Fernanda
authors.initials: KF
authors.lastname: Staszko
authors.forename: Carla
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Lincho
authors.forename: Vivian da Cas
authors.initials: Vda C
authors.lastname: Engelke
authors.forename: Nádia Spada
authors.initials: NS
authors.lastname: Fiori
authors.forename: Karina Cirino
authors.initials: KC
authors.lastname: Silva
authors.forename: Elisa Iribarren
authors.initials: EI
authors.lastname: Nunes
authors.forename: Linjie
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhang
mesh_terms: D001314:Auscultation; D015706:Bibliometrics; D001938:Brazil; D006801:Humans; D008171:Lung Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis; D010506:Periodicals as Topic / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012135:Respiratory Sounds / Q000145:classification*; D009626:Terminology as Topic