lung and airway disorders
Air Pollution–Related Illness
Diagnosis of Air Pollution–Related Illness
A history of exposure Pulmonary function tests Doctors base the diagnosis on a person's medical history, environmental exposures, symptoms, and results of Pulmonary Function Testing (PFT) . Doctors ask people who have lung disorders such as asthma and COPD whether their symptoms worsen when exposed to air pollution. Tests often do not help differentiate air pollution–related illness from other causes of lung disorders. The causative role of a specific pollutant may become clear if many people in the same environment and with elevated exposures develop similar symptoms or lung disorders. 