[Which definition to use when defining reversibility of airway obstruction?].
BACKGROUND
There is no clear consensus about what constitutes reversibility of airway obstruction. European Respiratory Society (ERS): Increase in FEV1 and/or FVC>12% of their theoretical value and>0.2l. British Thoracic Society: FEV1>15% of initial value and FEV1>0.2l. Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease: Increase in FEV1>12% and>0.2l. Australia and New Zealand Thoracic Society: Increase in FEV1 >15%. American Thoracic Society/ERS: Increase in FEV1>12% and>0.2l or increase in FVC>12% and 0.2l. Our principal objective was to determine the percentage of patients with COPD (n=62) who were significant responders to the reversibility test according to the 5 recommendations.


METHODS
Plethysmography was performed before and 15 minutes after inhalation of 400 micrograms of a short acting bronchodilator (BD). COPD is defined as a FEV1/FVC post BD<0.7.


RESULTS
The percentage of responders varied from 24% to 50% depending on the recommendations used.


CONCLUSIONS
Reversibility of airway obstruction is recommendation dependent.
Ben Saad
H
H
Service de Physiologie et des Explorations Fonctionnelles, EPS Farhat Hached, Sousse, Tunisie. helmi.bensaad@rns.tn
Ben Attia Saafi
R
R
Rouatbi
S
S
Ben Mdella
S
S
Garrouche
A
A
Hadj Mtir
A
A
Harrabi
I
I
Tabka
Z
Z
Zbidi
A
A
D001985:Bronchial Provocation Tests; D001993:Bronchodilator Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010991:Plethysmography; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D029424:Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive / Q000145:classification / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000188:drug therapy*; D012129:Respiratory Function Tests; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012720:Severity of Illness Index
D001993:Bronchodilator Agents