Prevalence of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease in the Portuguese Population

"Spirometry is a simple test used to diagnose and monitor lung diseases by measuring how much air a person can breathe out in one forced breath.~After the baseline spirometry, and only if there is clear evidence of an airflow limitation/obstruction, i.e., if the FEV1/FVC (forced expiratory volume in the first second/forced vital capacity) ratio is less than 70% or less than the 5th percentile of the distribution of values measured in the reference population, a bronchodilator test will be performed using standardised post-bronchodilator spirometry (200 µg salbutamol), in order to identify persistent airflow limitation/obstruction."