Sex Differences in the Decline of Pulmonary Function with Age
Autor: | Marij Meyer, Bernice H. Cohen, E. James Britt, James Shelhamer, Harold A. Menkes, Solbert Permutt |
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Rok vydání: | 1981 |
Předmět: |
Adult
Male Pulmonary and Respiratory Medicine Aging medicine.medical_specialty Population Critical Care and Intensive Care Medicine Pulmonary function testing FEV1/FVC ratio chemistry.chemical_compound Sex Factors Diffusing capacity Epidemiology medicine Humans education education.field_of_study business.industry Respiration Smoking Middle Aged medicine.disease Obstructive lung disease Respiratory Function Tests respiratory tract diseases chemistry Carboxyhemoglobin Female Cardiology and Cardiovascular Medicine business Demography Sex characteristics |
Zdroj: | Chest. 80:79S-80S |
ISSN: | 0012-3692 |
Popis: | A s part of and as an adjunct to a longterm genetic and epidemiologic study of risk factors for chronic obstructive lung disease conducted at the Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, we have been interested in examining the patterns of pulmonary function in different groups. In a study previously published,1 important male-female differences were noted in the pattern of pulmonary function observed in young smokers that led us to further examination of the pattern of change in pulmonary function in men and women under observation in the longterm genetic epidemiologic study. In the first study of young smokers our group observed that: 1) simple tests of lung function show clear differences between smokers and nonsmokers, and 2) that men seemed to respond differently to habitual cigarette smoking at an earlier stage than the women. In that study, 205 adults between the ages of 18 and 25 were classified into four groups according to sex and smoking status. Pulmonary function studies were performed using standard techniques. For purposes of this discussion it was observed that in men, tests of FEV1/FVC under conditions of breathing helium and oxygen clearly separated smokers from nonsmokers. In women no separation was detected. The clear separation between male smokers and nonsmokers was observed both under conditions of air and helium and oxygen when measurements of FEV3/ FVC was considered. Again, however, no differences were observed in women. There was, however, a clear difference in the measured FEV3/FVC between smoking men and women, under conditions of breathing either air or helium and oxygen. Studies of the diffusing capacity for carbon monoxide in that population also revealed that the diffusing capacity was decreased to a greater extent in female rather than male smokers. Smoking habits did not account for the observed differences. The number of pack-years of smoking recorded in the questionnaire administered by a trained interviewer was not significantly different for male and female smokers. In addition, calculations of carboxyhemoglobin concentration estimated from the back pressure measurement in the steady state diffusing capacity study revealed that carbon monoxide levels were the same in both men and women smokers. This study suggested to us that men and women respond differently to smoking. We were therefore interested in determining if there were differences in the pattern of change of pulmonary function with age in men and women. We tl erefore analyzed the records of 609 participants in the longterm epidemiology project using the following criteria for analysis. First, all subjects were included in the longterm study for reasons other than their own health status; that is, they were free of lung disease. Second, they were 20 years old or more, and third, smoking histories were clear; that is, more than 20 cigarettes per day or never. |
Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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