Peak Flow Meters

Peak Flow Meters

Peak flow meters are portable, inexpensive, hand-held devices used to measure how air flows out from a person's lungs in order to monitor people's ability to push air out of their lungs. Peak flow meters are used by patients with asthma or other lung disorders to measure the amount of air patients take into their lungs. Most often, peak flow meters are used to measure patients' air intake, allowing physicians to further determine the severity of any illness. Peak flow meters provide many uses for patients with asthma or lung disorders. They help determine if a patient needs to adjust his/her daily medication or can show that patients may need to change the way they are using their medicines. Because peak flow meters may help identify causes of asthma at work, home or play, they may also help parents to determine what might be triggering their child's asthma. Peak flow meters can also be used during an asthma episode. These meters can help determine the severity of the episode, decide when to use rescue medication, and decide when to seek emergency care.

Peak flow meters rates may be tracked and charted during the course of a day to help monitor asthma. A "normal" peak flow meters rate is based on a person's age, height, sex and race. A standardized "normal" may be obtained from a chart comparing the patient with a population without breathing problems. Each patient has his/her own "normal" peak flow meters rate. Three zones of measurement are commonly used to interpret peak flow meters rates, based on level of danger. These three zones are typically classified as green, yellow, and red, as in traffic lights. Peak flow meters come in two ranges of measurement, low and standard. Low range peak flow meters are for small children, and a standard range meter is for older children, teenagers and adults.