forced vital capacity (FVC)

Indications

• FVC is also used in connection with FEV1 for assessing obstructive lung disease (see FEV1)
• in the absence of obstructive lung disease, FVC may be used to assess severity of restrictive lung disease

Clinical significance

Table

FVC (% predicted)	Assessment
> 80%	normal
65-80%	mild restriction
50-65%	moderate restriction
< 50%	severe restriction

More general terms

• pulmonary function test (PFT)

Additional terms

• forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1)

Component of

• FEV1/FVC