This Concise Clinical Review published on the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine examines the problem and the prevalence of under-diagnosis and over-diagnosis of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease. COPD is regarded as one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality across the world, yet its proper diagnosis remains a challenge.Community-based population studies conducted...

The Journal of the Asian Pacific Society of Respirology focused on the multi-breath nitrogen washout test and its most important applications in Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). The clinical properties of the Nitrogen Multi-breath washout test, which is a lung function test that measures ventilation inhomogeneity, a biomarker of small airway disease, were analyzed in Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis...

The American Thoracic Society committee on Proficiency Standards for Pulmonary Function Laboratories has recognized the need for a standardized reporting format for pulmonary function tests. Although prior documents have offered guidance on the reporting of test data, there is considerable variability in how these results are presented to end users, leading to potential confusion and miscommunication. This...

A new paper by ERS published on the ERJ aims to update previous publications on bronchial challenge testing and the performance of the methacholine challenge test. This report focuses on general considerations for bronchial challenge testing, then specifically on the performance of the methacholine challenge test (MCT). Direct airway challenges with methacholine are proposed as a diagnostic aid,...