How is COPD diagnosed?

How is COPD diagnosed?

To assess your lungs and overall health, your healthcare provider will take your medical history, perform a physical exam and order some tests, like breathing tests.

Medical history

To diagnose COPD, your provider will ask questions like:

• Do you smoke?
• Have you had long-term exposure to dust or air pollutants?
• Do other members of your family have COPD?
• Do you get short of breath with exercise? When resting?
• Have you been coughing or wheezing for a long time?
• Do you cough up phlegm?

Physical exam

To help with the diagnosis, your provider will do a physical exam that includes:

• Listening to your lungs and heart.
• Checking your blood pressure and pulse.
• Examining your nose and throat.
• Checking your feet and ankles for swelling.

Tests

Providers use a simple test called spirometry to see how well your lungs work. For this test, you blow air into a tube attached to a machine. This lung function test measures how much air you can breathe out and how fast you can do it.

Your provider may also want to run a few other tests, such as:

• Pulse oximetry: This test measures the oxygen in your blood.
• Arterial blood gases (ABGs): These tests check your oxygen and carbon dioxide levels.
• Electrocardiogram (ECG or EKG): This test checks heart function and rules out heart disease as a cause of shortness of breath.
• Chest X-ray or chest CT scan: Imaging tests look for lung changes that COPD causes.
• Exercise testing: Your provider uses this to determine if the oxygen level in your blood drops when you exercise.