ANN ARBOR, Mich., Aug. 14 -- Only one in three patients who are told they have chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) have had that diagnosis confirmed with spirometry.
That finding emerged from a retrospective review of health records of more than 5,000 COPD patients published in the August issue of CHEST.
Earlier studies have suggested that women were less likely to undergo spirometry, but this analysis found that use of the technique was more common for women than men (33.5% versus 29.4%, P=0.001), wrote MeiLan K. Han, M.D., M.S., of the University of Michigan here, and colleagues.
Dr. Han said that without spirometry "both under diagnosis and misdiagnosis may occur, which can lead to improper therapies being prescribed."
