Impaired left ventricular filling is associated with decreased pulse oximetry values.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to investigate the association between echocardiographic measures of diastolic left ventricular dysfunction and decreased arterial oxyhaemoglobin saturation measured with pulse oximetry (SpO).

Design: This is a cross-sectional population-based survey of Norwegian adults. Values obtained using echocardiography, pulse oximetry, and spirometry were included.

Should pulse oximetry be included in GPs' assessment of patients with obstructive lung disease?

Objective: To explore the associations between decreased pulse oximetry values (SpO2) and clinical, laboratory, and demographic variables in general practice patients diagnosed with asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), including those with both COPD and asthma in combination.

Design/setting: A cross-sectional study in seven Norwegian general practices of patients aged 40 years or over who were diagnosed by their general practitioner (GP) with asthma and/or COPD. The patients were examined during a stable phase of their disease.

Changed terms for drug payment influenced GPs' diagnoses and prescribing practice for inhaled corticosteroids.

Background: Inhaled glucocorticosteroids (ICS) are first-line anti-inflammatory treatment in asthma, but not in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). To restrict ICS use in COPD to cases of severe disease, new terms for reimbursement of drug costs were introduced in Norway in 2006, requiring a diagnosis of COPD to be verified by spirometry.

Objectives: To describe how GPs' diagnoses and treatment of patients who used ICS before 2006 changed after a reassessment of the patients that included spirometry.

Asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or both? Diagnostic labeling and spirometry in primary care patients aged 40 years or more.

Aims: To describe symptoms and lung function in patients registered with asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in primary care and to examine how spirometry findings fit with general practitioners' (GPs) diagnoses.

Methods: Patients aged ≥40 years with a diagnosis of asthma or COPD registered in the electronic medical record during the previous 5 years were recruited at seven GP offices in Norway in 2009-2010. Registered diagnosis, spirometry results, comorbidity, and reported symptoms were compared.