In the survey of more than 300 hospital-based physicians, only one quarter of the surveyed physicians report access to a spirometer; in addition, physicians also highlighted their lack of training in use and interpretation of spirometry.

While the authors suggest that “spirometry is a cost-effective diagnostic tool for evaluation of lung function and for case-finding in a resource-limited setting” they offer no references on that front, and the article has no economic analysis of its own. The report sticks to the topic of the survey throughout. Hopefully some empirical data on the costs and benefits of spirometry in these settings isn’t far behind.

The article by Desalu and colleagues is entitled, Evaluation of current knowledge, awareness and practice of spirometry among hospital-based Nigerian Doctors. A provisional PDF is available here.