Characteristics of ventilatory disorders and associated factors in patients with chronic respiratory disease at Tay Nguyen University’s Hospital in 2025

Abstract

Background: Chronic respiratory diseases are a major and growing global health burden, with spirometry playing a crucial role in evaluating ventilatory defects. Objective: This study aims to describe the characteristics of spirometric ventilatory defects and investigate their concordance with clinical diagnoses among patients with chronic respiratory diseases at Tay Nguyen University’s Hospital. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted on 110 patients clinically diagnosed with chronic respiratory diseases (based on GINA and GOLD criteria) who underwent spirometry according to ATS/ERS 2019 technical standards. Results: The proportion of abnormal spirometry was 65.5% (95% CI: 56.1 – 74.1%), predominantly featuring obstructive ventilatory defects (60.9%; 95% CI: 51.8 – 70.0%). Analysis of obstruction patterns across the entire sample revealed 40.0% (95% CI: 30.8 – 49.2%) reversible obstruction and 20.9% (95% CI: 13.3 – 28.1%) irreversible obstruction. There was a statistically significant difference in the distribution of obstruction patterns by clinical diagnosis (p = 0.025): the asthma group exhibited a high rate of obstruction (75.6%), including 40.5% reversible and 35.1% irreversible patterns, whereas the COPD group recorded a relatively high proportion of patients with no obstruction on spirometry (53.5%). Conclusion: The findings suggest a certain degree of discordance between clinical diagnoses and spirometric results. This highlights the complementary role of spirometry in accurately determining defect phenotypes, thereby helping to optimize treatment strategies for patients with chronic respiratory diseases.