When to use and not to use spirometry in patients admitted to the internal medicine wards for the diagnosis of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

Abstract

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is one of the main causes for admission to an internal medicine ward, due to exacerbations of the disease itself or to comorbidities leading to dyspnea as an intriguing symptom. In many cases, a diagnosis of COPD is made only on clinical grounds, but well-accepted guidelines strongly suggest measuring the lung function to diagnose and stage such a common disease. Problems with the equipment, its use and data interpretation lead to underuse spirometry in general and in patients in internal medicine in particular.