The type of chronic respiratory insufficiency which is characterized physiologically by ob~tructive airway disease and which is called by :such names as chronic bronchitis, adult asthma, and/or emphysema follows a prolonged, progressive course marked by frequent exacerbations and remissions. Numerous investigations have yielded information concerning various aspects of these complex diseases. It is presumed that chronic and/or recurrent infections and/or environmental factors influence the course of these diseases. However, there is very little objective information gathered on a daily basis concerning their relative significance. The writers have chosen to apply a number of what seem to them to be the better measurement techniques to the daily course of a group of patients with this type of chronic respiratory insufficiency. This has been done in the belief that the benefits derived by seeing the patient in relation to other patients and to his environlI1ent in a continuous time sequence outweigh the lnerits of arguments concerning individual testing methodology, allowing, of course, that these l'ilrious tests are being used after reasonable ,t,andardization and consideration of the Dfob}ems of measurement.
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Spicer et al. (1962) studied this question.