![]() The highest number achieved is one's personal best, although unusually high or low values should be ignored. ![]() During this testing time the person's asthma must be under good control. Conducting these tests after the person has been awake for a few hours will result in the highest peak flow readings. However, an individual's personal best must be established by using the same peak flow meter twice a day for two weeks. Peak flow meters are packaged with a chart that gives baseline values based on height, gender and age. Used correctly and regularly, peak flow meters can (1) provide early detection of worsening changes in lung function (2) indicate one's response to rescue medication during an acute asthma episode (3) monitor the overall response to treatment (4) provide a pattern of data that can help determine whether one's asthma is under “good control” or adjustments are needed in the management plan and (5) evaluate the severity of asthma. To give a useful picture over time, peak flow values should be recorded twice daily, morning and evening, and whenever signs and symptoms of an asthma episode develop. Usually, peak flow values will drop before symptoms of wheezing and coughing occur, making a peak flow meter a valuable adjunct to asthma management. Thus, a decreasing peak flow indicates more air trapping and diminished air exchange. ![]() Because asthma is an obstructive lung disease, exhaling air becomes increasingly difficult as an asthma episode progresses. Peak flow meters are portable devices for measuring peak expiratory flow rate (PEFR) or how much air a person with asthma can move out of their lungs in one quick, forced expiration. Talabere, in Clinical Asthma, 2008 Peak Flow Monitoring ![]()
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