What is normal for me?

Lung function tests directly measure various aspects of lung performance but they are also often compared to a ‘normal persons’. This ‘normal person’ does not actually exist but are calculated from predicted equations based around your own height, age, biological sex and ethnicity. We can then calculate how far from this precited person your results are, and then determine the severity of you condition based up on this. However, how an individual perceives their disease severity can often differ from how these objective tests can rate their disease severity. For example, many people assume that because they have previously smoked they should expect a degree of breathlessness, or because they are older than friends or family members they should expect to do less.

In Respiratory Medicine we often use scoring scales to help us gauge how your lung function is affecting your daily life. These may include:

• Medical Research Council (MRC) Dyspnoea scale
• St George’s Respiratory Questionnaire (SGRQ)
• Chronic Respiratory Questionnaire (CRQ)
• BORG scale of rate of perceived exertion (RPE)

In 2009 Vivienne Parry presented a programme on Lungs in her series 'What is Normal? on Radio 4. The half hour programme contains contributions from several ARTP Members.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/b00hpndl