How are old people tested for emphysema?

PFTs...: COPD is a chronic obstructive disorder. In order to document the chronic obstruction, pulmonary function testing is done. Most patients are able to perform this testing. If not, abg analysis coupled with the right diagnostic clinical picture could be used to strongly suspect copd, although pfts are needed to definitively diagnose this disease.

Same for all: Everyone, regardless of age, is tested the same way for emphysema: either a lung function test or a ct scan of the chest. A lung function test is a series of breathing maneuvers that can test whether you have the findings of emphysema, which is a blockage of air exit from the lungs. Basically, patients with COPD can't blow all the air out of the lungs due to inflammation and destroyed lung.