HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in ISI Web of Science Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via ISI Web of Science (3) Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Rigau, J. Articles by Farré, R. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Rigau, J. Articles by Farré, R.

Unsupervised self-testing of airway obstruction by forced oscillation at the patient's home

¹ Unitat de Biofísica i Bioenginyeria, Facultat de Medicina, Universitat de Barcelona, and ² Servei de Pneumologia, Hospital Clínic, Institut d'Investigacions Biomèdiques August Pi i Sunyer, Barcelona, Spain

CORRESPONDENCE: R. Farré, Unitat de Biofísica i Bioenginyeria, Facultat de Medicina, Casanova 143, 08036, Barcelona, Spain. Fax: 34 934024516. E-mail: rfarre@ub.edu

Keywords: airway impedance, asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, home monitoring, respiratory resistance

Received: January 29, 2003
Accepted April 23, 2003

This work was supported in part by Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnología (SAF2002-03616), Fondo Investigaciones Sanitarias (99-0034-03) and Red Respira C03/11 SEPAR-99 and the European Commission (CHRONIC, V Program, IST_DG XIII, 1999-12158).

As active patient cooperation is not required, the forced oscillation technique (FOT) could be suitable for measuring airway obstruction in routine home applications. Nevertheless, FOT has never been used at the patient's home to date. The aim of this study was to assess the feasibility of FOT and the reproducibility of measured respiratory resistance (R_rs) in routine patient self-testing at home.

Altogether, nine asthmatic patients self-measured their R_rs with a portable FOT device and spirometry for 10–14 days, in the morning and evening, and before and after bronchodilator inhalation. During each measurement session, the patients carried out four consecutive FOT measurements. Grubbs' discordancy test for detecting outliers was used to evaluate intermeasure reliability.

Only 4.9% of R_rs data reported by patients were rejected as artefacts. The coefficient of variation of R_rs was 7.9±6.3% (mean±sd). When compared with spirometry, the per cent change in R_rs for detecting a positive bronchodilator response showed an 83% sensitivity and 72% specificity.

Unsupervised self-measurement of respiratory resistance at the patient's home provided results similar to those obtained by a technician in a lung function lab. Forced oscillation technique could be a useful tool for the routine follow-up of asthmatic patients at home.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				Y. F. Guo, F. Herrmann, J-P. Michel, and J-P. Janssens Normal values for respiratory resistance using forced oscillation in subjects >65 years old Eur. Respir. J., October 1, 2005; 26(4): 602 - 608. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				R. Farre and D. Navajas Assessment of expiratory flow limitation in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: a new approach Eur. Respir. J., February 1, 2004; 23(2): 187 - 188. [Full Text] [PDF]