Hi all,
I have a couple of questions about the spirometry data in the SHHS datasets, and am not sure where to find the answers. Are the FEV1 & FVC results from pre- or post- bronchodilator administration? Are the FEV1 & FVC results the average from X number of trials, or the best, or the first? Was there any sort of guarantor of session/technique quality? Were participants asked to refrain from using inhaled medications, smoking etc for XX period of time before spirometry? Was it conducted standing or seated?
I imagine this sort of information must be somewhere, but I can't find it in the datasets, nor the manual of operations or the Forms etc.
Any help pointing me in the right direction would be much appreciated.
Cheers, Tim
Hey Tim - thanks for visiting. Unfortunately we don't have any additional information on those SHHS spirometry variables. These were called "A-variables" by the SHHS team and were not collected as part of the SHHS visit protocol, but were rather gathered from the SHHS parent cohorts from other research visits. I think the cohorts were only constrained by time (i.e., provide values within the last X years), but it's conceivable the methods underlying the source spirometry measurements could have differed between SHHS parent cohorts.
I wish I knew more!