Diagnosing Copd: Respiratory Health
Content provided by the Faculty of the Harvard Medical School
Diagnosing COPD
If you have shortness of breath or other symptoms, make an appointment for a medical exam. To diagnose chronic bronchitis, doctors rely primarily on your medical history and your symptoms. There are no diagnostic tests for chronic bronchitis, but doctors will typically test your lung function (see Figure 4) to see if you have abnormalities that often accompany chronic bronchitis. Diagnosing emphysema typically involves a combination of symptoms and laboratory tests, including pulmonary function tests and radiology.
Figure 4: How's your lung function?
 Lung function normally peaks at about age 25, then declines with age. In smokers, lung function declines more steeply. But within a year of quitting, the rate of decline slows to that of someone of the same age who never smoked. |
| Last updated: | May 23, 2007 |
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Medical content reviewed by the Faculty of the Harvard Medical School. Harvard Health Publications, Copyright © 2007 by President and Fellows of Harvard College. All rights reserved. Used with permission of StayWell.
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