Standardization of Spirometry
In 1979 the Snowbird workshop held resulting in the first American Thoracic Society (ATS) statement on the standardization of spirometry. The standards were updated in 1987 and again in 1994. In parallel a similar initiative by the European Community for Steel and Coal, resulted in the first European standardization document in 1983. These standards were then updated in 1993 as the official statement of the European Respiratory Society (ERS). The new ATS/ERS Standardization of Spirometry 2005 document aligns the views of the ATS and ERS in an attempt to publish standards that can be applied more globally.The purpose of the governance section is to provide a summary of the standards for spirometry with the supportive documentation as it relates to respiratory clinical trials.
