TY - JOUR T1 - Pulmonary Function Test Quality in the Elderly A Comparison with Younger Adults JF - Respiratory Care DO - 10.4187/respcare.02331 SP - respcare.02331 AU - Jeffrey M. Haynes Y1 - 2013/06/25 UR - http://rc.rcjournal.com/content/early/2013/06/25/respcare.02331.abstract N2 - Introduction: Elderly patients may be at greater risk for misdiagnosis and inappropriate treatment as a consequence of pulmonary function test (PFT) underutilization and tests being conducted with low quality expectations. This study sought to determine if elderly patients are able to achieve both spirometry and diffusion capacity (DLCO) quality scores comparable to a younger adult population. Methods: retrospective review of pulmonary function data over a 22 month period. A list of every patient age ≥ 80 years (elderly group) and ages 40-50 years (control group) tested during the time period was compiled. The quality of spirometry and DLCO testing were examined. Results: 92.6% (139/150) of elderly group and 91.5% (163/178) of control group spirometry tests satisfied all American Thoracic Society/European Respiratory Society (ATS/ERS) acceptability and reproducibility criteria (p = 0.84). 84.9% (96/113) of elderly group and 88.5% (108/122) of control group DLCO tests satisfied all ATS/ERS acceptability and reproducibility criteria (p = 0.45). Conclusion: Elderly patients referred to a hospital-based PFT lab can be expected to achieve spirometry and DLCO quality scores comparable to younger adult patients. ER -