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BACKGROUND

This joint statement is based on the previous statements from the American Thoracic Society (ATS) and the European Respiratory Society (ERS), and much of the material was taken from these statements 1, 2. It has been updated according to new scientific insights and revised to reflect consensus opinions of both of these societies. This document is meant to function as a stand-alone document, but, for certain issues, references will be made to the previous statements. Although there are other ways to measure carbon monoxide (CO) uptake (eg steady-state, intra-breath and rebreathing techniques) 3–9, the following recommendations will be restricted to the single-breath technique, since this is the most common methodology in use around the world.