ABSTRACT
Information gathered from the patient provides essential clues to diagnosis and an invalu able guide to the progression of pulmonary diseases. Although time-consuming, a detailed and carefully recorded respiratory history is an essential part of the evaluation and medical management of a patient with respiratory disease. This chapter provides an overview of ob taining and interpreting historical information from patients and their families. It is closely linked with other chapters that deal with specific symptoms such as dyspnea (Chap. 14) or cough (Chap. 15). Each chapter about specific diseases also discusses the symptoms of that disorder. The information on obtaining an occupational and environmental exposure history supplements the chapters on occupational parenchymal lung diseases (39), hyper sensitivity pneumonitis (40), and occupational and environmental airways disease (38).
