Interpretative strategies for lung function tests.

This is a document produced by a joint ATS-ERS Task Force to suggest new interpretative strategies for lung function testing. It emphasises the importance of selecting appropriate reference values and lower limits of the normal range, and provides a good listing of available reference studies with suggestions for dealing with ethnicity. A detailed interpretative algorithm is presented, outlying the position of each test for a state-of-the-art diagnostic procedure in large hospital-based laboratories. Its use is not intended as mandatory and simpler assessments of pulmonary function are acceptable in different settings, keeping in mind the limitations that are inherent to simplicity. The assessment of reversibility of bronchoconstriction is covered in more detail than in previous documents, with reminders that a number of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients are more likely to respond with improvements of lung volumes than forced expiratory volume in one second.