Safety of Performing Spirometry During Pregnancy: A Systematic Review

TL;DR

This review finds no evidence of adverse events from spirometry in pregnant women, but more research is needed to confirm its safety.

Contribution

The first systematic review to assess the safety of spirometry during pregnancy, finding no reported adverse events.

Findings

No adverse events were reported in over 33,405 spirometry attempts by 10,617 pregnant women.

Nine studies included reversibility tests with no safety concerns noted.

Current evidence does not confirm safety, and further prospective studies are needed.

Abstract

What are the main findings?
There are no studies examining the safety profile of spirometry during pregnancy.None of the studies which evaluated spirometry attempts by pregnant women reported any adverse events during the procedure

There are no studies examining the safety profile of spirometry during pregnancy.

None of the studies which evaluated spirometry attempts by pregnant women reported any adverse events during the procedure

What are the implications of the main findings?
Further studies are needed to evaluate the safety profile of spirometry during pregnancy.

Further studies are needed to evaluate the safety profile of spirometry during pregnancy.

Introduction: It is estimated that up to 75% of pregnant women complain of dyspnea at some point during pregnancy. Asthma is the most common chronic pulmonary disease complicating pregnancy. Well controlled asthma does not affect pregnancy negatively. However, asthma exacerbations are linked with several adverse perinatal outcomes. As diligent treatment of asthma significantly reduces the number of asthma exacerbations, it is important to properly detect asthmatic patients among pregnant women in order to provide them with better care. The most efficient way to diagnose asthma is to perform spirometry with a reversibility test. There are no studies that have examined the safety of performing spirometry and, more specifically, a reversibility test, during pregnancy. Objectives: In this systematic review we aimed to review current available data regarding the safety of performing spirometry and a reversibility test during pregnancy. Patients and methods: For this systematic review, we searched PubMed, Scopus and Cochrane databases. We used the following search terms: (pregnancy); (spirometry); (lung function test); (pulmonary function test); (reversibility test); (post-bronchodilator challenge); (safety). Results: We collected reports of spirometry performed on pregnant women and analyzed them for complications that occurred during the procedure. Out of 13,594 records identified for the aforementioned search words, we included 78 documents that met the inclusion criteria. In total, the studies consisted of over 33,405 spirometry attempts performed by 10,617 pregnant women. Additionally, the reversibility test was conducted in nine studies. In all of the selected articles, there were no reports of adverse events occurring while performing spirometry. Conclusions: In this systematic review we aimed to summarize the current available data about the safety of performing spirometry during pregnancy. Several studies have investigated pulmonary function tests during pregnancy. No studies reported any adverse events that occurred while performing the procedure. In order to better characterize the safety profile of spirometry, including during pregnancy, further prospective studies systematically reporting on adverse symptoms during spirometry are required.

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