Six-second spirometry for detection of airway obstruction: a population-based study in Austria.

Rationale: The presence of airway obstruction is currently defined by Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) guidelines on the basis of the post-bronchodilator (BD) FEV(1)/FVC. It has been proposed that the traditional FVC can be replaced with the shorter and less demanding FEV(6) for detecting airway obstruction.

Objectives: A comparison of FEV(1)/FVC and FEV(1)/FEV(6) for the detection of airway obstruction in population-based post-bronchodilator spirometry data.