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Office test alone can’t diagnose COPD

DEAR DR. ROACH: I am a healthy 70-year-old woman. The only prescription medication I take is for dry eyes. I recently visited my new primary physician for the first time, and she had me do a breathing test, where I exhaled into a tube to measure airflow. I was told to breathe deeply and exhale completely into the tube three times in succession. It took less than a minute to complete. It is apparently a routine test she orders for new patients.

She then told me I have COPD, on the basis of that test alone. She asked if I had ever smoked or been exposed...