Exclusion criteria
Patients with any potential contraindications to pulmonary function
testing (recent myocardial infarction, pulmonary embolism, cerebral
aneurysm, active hemoptysis, pneumothorax, nausea/vomiting, recent
thoracic, abdominal, or ocular surgery) were excluded before conducting
the tests. In addition, patients who developed acute respiratory
distress or macrophage activation syndrome associated with secondary
bacterial infections during the 7-day follow-up were also excluded.