The ATS/ERS consensus on clinical pulmonary function testing

Abstract

Recently, the need for more uniform pulmonary function testing across the world has progressively increased. This prompted the American Thoracic Society (ATS) and the European Respiratory Society (ERS) to appoint a joint Task Force to provide new combined standards. The Task Force consisted of 19 scientists with recognised expertise in pulmonary function testing, who met many times to produce their new standards, which, in July, started to appear as a series in five consecutive issues of the European Respiratory Journal [1–5]. The five manuscripts deal with the most relevant aspects of pulmonary function testing in hospital-based laboratories, including the following: