COMPARATIVE STUDY OF FEV1/FEV6 TO FEV1/FVC IN THE DIAGNOSIS OF COPD

Dr. A Ayyappa; Dr. G Sambasiva Rao; Dr. B.M.S. Patrudu; Dr. Venkatesh Vulli

Volume : VIII, Issue : VIII, August - 2018

COMPARATIVE STUDY OF FEV1/FEV6 TO FEV1/FVC IN THE DIAGNOSIS OF COPD

Dr. A Ayyappa, Dr. G Sambasiva Rao, Dr. B. M. S. Patrudu, Dr. Venkatesh Vulli

Abstract :

BACK GROUND: COPD is a major public health problem in people where smoking is common and it kills more than 3 million people every year making it the fourth largest cause of death world over. Even though COPD is non–curable early detection and treatment can slow the progress of the disease. Spirometry has become an essential tool in assessing the respiratory diseases and several studies emphasized its significance as a screening test for the early detection of COPD. METHODS: we conducted spirometry test on 120 patients with chronic smoking history of several years who presented with symptoms and signs of COPD. The results were analysed statistically compå FEV1/FEV6 ratio values with those of FEV1/FVC values as per GOLD guidelines for the diagnosis of COPD. CONCLUSION: FEV6 is approximately 95% of FVC and as it is a fixed reproducible time.FEV6 can improve diagnostic accuracy by improving the comparability between patient and reference data. FEV6 is the minimum expiratory time that was fixed as acceptable by both ATS and ERS. Abeviations: COPD=Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, FVC= Forced Vital Capacity, FEV1=Forced Expiratory Volume in 1st second, FEV6= forced expiratory volume at 6 seconds, GOLD=Global initiative for chronic Obstructive Lung Disease, ATS= American thoracic society, ERS= European respiratory society.