Has the pandemic changed the test quality of the pulmonary function test laboratory?

Esendaglı D., Gül Ateş E., Özsancak Uğurlu A., Akçay M. Ş., Ulubay G.

TUBERKULOZ VE TORAKS, cilt.70, sa.4, ss.358-364, 2022 (SCI-Expanded) identifier identifier identifier identifier

  • Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
  • Cilt numarası: 70 Sayı: 4
  • Basım Tarihi: 2022
  • Doi Numarası: 10.5578/tt.20229607
  • Dergi Adı: TUBERKULOZ VE TORAKS
  • Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED), Emerging Sources Citation Index (ESCI), Scopus, CAB Abstracts, EMBASE, MEDLINE, TR DİZİN (ULAKBİM)
  • Sayfa Sayıları: ss.358-364
  • Anahtar Kelimeler: COVID-19, pulmonary function tests, spirometry, quality, maneuver, VARIABILITY
  • Orta Doğu Teknik Üniversitesi Adresli: Hayır

Özet

Has the pandemic changed the test quality of the pulmonary function test laboratory?Introduction: Pulmonary function tests are used in the evaluation of the res-piratory system. Maneuvers during spirometry can create aerosols and spread viruses such as SARS-CoV-2. Measures due to the pandemic can negatively affect both the number and the quality of the spirometry tests. There are no comparative studies on this subject.Materials and Methods: The tests conducted in the spirometry laboratory between November 2019 and November 2021 were evaluated.Results: Four hundred forty patients were included in the study. 50.5% of the patients were male and the mean age was 61.8 +/- 16.5 years. The age, gender, height, and weight of the patients were similar. 75.2% (331) of the tests were evaluated as successful. The most common errors in tests were early termina-tion (84.1%), uncooperative patients (29%), and poor effort (22.4%). The types of errors were not different between the two periods. The median num-ber of tests performed for each patient was six. The total number of spirometry tests performed were 262 and 178 for 2019 and 2021 (p= 0.011), but test success remained unchanged over the years (p= 0.513). There was no signi-ficant difference between the three operators and the test success (p= 0.909), which was similar for both periods. However, the number of tests performed until the successful maneuver varied significantly (p= 0.009), and fewer maneuvers were required before the pandemic.Conclusion: According to this study, the measures taken during the pandemic did not affect the quality of spirometry, but they did lead to more tests being done up until the successful maneuver was performed.