Spirometry in the outpatient department of a tertiary care hospital and its awareness among general practitioners for the daignosis of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

Objective: To evaluate the level of understanding about the easy availability of spirogram in the outpatient department (OPD) of tertiary level hospital, Peshawar and awareness of spirogram among general practitioners (GPs) for the diagnosis of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Methodology: This interventional study with cross sectional design was carried out in Pulmonology Department, Lady Reading Hospital, Peshawar, Pakistan from January 2011 to May 2012. It included 2000 patients and were divided into two equal groups. Group I included those patients who were primarily referred by GPs to the Respiratory care physicians for suspicion of COPD while Group II comprised those patients who voluntarily came to Respiratory care physician to rule out COPD because of their smoking history. Pulmonary Function Tests (PFTs) were done by PFT assistants by using a spirometer. Data was entered in SPSS Vs 16 and was statistically analyzed. Results: Male to Female ratio was 1.6:1. Mean age (in years) of male in Group I was 43 +/- 16 and 40 +/- 15 SD was of female, whereas mean age for male patients in Group II was 46 +/- 14 for female patients. In Group I, 444 (44.4%) were diagnosed as COPD, while in Group II 188 patients (18.8%) had COPD (P=0.001). Conclusion: Diagnosis of COPD in Group I was much higher than in Group II patients. This significant difference between two groups shows the awareness of GPs about spirogram for the diagnosis of COPD.