VARIATION IN LUNG VOLUMES AND CAPACITIES AMONG YOUNG MALES IN RELATION TO HEIGHT

Authors

  • Urooj Bhatti
  • Keenjher Rani
  • Muhammad Qasim Memon

Abstract

Background: Vital Capacity (VC) is defined as a change in volume of lung after maximal inspiration followed by maximal expiration is called Vital Capacity of lungs. It is the sum of tidal volume, inspiratory reserve volume and expiratory reserve volume. Vital capacity of normal adults ranges between 3 to 5 litres. A number of physiological factors like age, gender, height and ethnicity effect lung volumes. The reference values of lung volume and capacities were calculated previously and those studies played pivotal role in establishing the fact that air volume capacities measured in an individual fall within a wide range among healthy persons of same age, gender and height but with different ethnicity. The objective of this study was to evaluate the changes in vital capacity in with height and gender. Methods: This cross-sectional study included 74 male students in the Department of Physiology, Liaquat University of Medical and Health Sciences, Jamshoro during January–March, 2014. The volunteers were divided into 2 groups of height ≤167.4 cm and >167.4 cm. The volunteers’ height was measured in cm. Vital capacity of the subjects was measured using standard protocol. Mean±SD of age, height and vital capacity were calculated. Results: Mean vital capacity in students with height >167.4 cm was higher than average vital capacity of students with height ≤167.4 cm. It might be due to the increased surface area of the lungs in relation with increasing height. Conclusions: There are variations in vital capacity of individuals in relation to their heights, within the same ethnic and age groups.Keywords:Height, Vital Capacity, Pulmonary Function Test, SpirometryBackground: Vital Capacity (VC) is defined as a change in volume of lung after maximal inspiration followed by maximal expiration is called Vital Capacity of lungs. It is the sum of tidal volume, inspiratory reserve volume and expiratory reserve volume. Vital capacity of normal adults ranges between 3 to 5 litres. A number of physiological factors like age, gender, height and ethnicity effect lung volumes. The reference values of lung volume and capacities were calculated previously and those studies played pivotal role in establishing the fact that air volume capacities measured in an individual fall within a wide range among healthy persons of same age, gender and height but with different ethnicity. The objective of this study was to evaluate the changes in vital capacity in with height and gender. Methods: This cross-sectional study included 74 male students in the Department of Physiology, Liaquat University of Medical and Health Sciences, Jamshoro during January–March, 2014. The volunteers were divided into 2 groups of height ≤167.4 cm and >167.4 cm. The volunteers’ height was measured in cm. Vital capacity of the subjects was measured using standard protocol. Mean±SD of age, height and vital capacity were calculated. Results: Mean vital capacity in students with height >167.4 cm was higher than average vital capacity of students with height ≤167.4 cm. It might be due to the increased surface area of the lungs in relation with increasing height. Conclusions: There are variations in vital capacity of individuals in relation to their heights, within the same ethnic and age groups.Keywords: Height, Vital Capacity, Pulmonary Function Test, Spirometry

References

Neil R MacIntyre. The Future of Pulmonary Function Testing. Respiratory Care 2012;57(1):154–61.

Muhammad Asif Memon, Muhammad Perwaiz Sandila, Syed Tausif Ahmed. Pulmonary function test in a cohort of older Pakistani population. Pak J Physiol 2006;2(1):34–7.

Adesola OO, Adeniran SA, Olubayo-F, Onagbiye S. Relationship between body circumferences and lung function tests among undergraduate students of a Nigerian university. Pak J Physiol 2013;9(1):3–6.

Adesola OO, Adeyanju SA, Bamiwuye S. Percent body fat and lung functions among the undergraduate students of Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU). Ile Ife. Nigeria. Int J Biol Sci 2011;3(3):102–10.

Sara Khan, Julian L, Yue Chen. Relationship between adiposity and pulmonary function in school-aged Canadian children. Pediatr Allergy Immunol Pulmonol 2014;27(3):126–32.

Carey IM, Cook DG, Strachan DP. The effects of adiposity and weight change on forced expiratory volume decline in a longitudinal study of adults. Int J Obes 1999;23:979–85.

Aggarwal AN, Dheeraji G, Jindal SK. Applicability of commonly used Caucasian prediction equations for spirometry interpretation in India. Indian J Med Res 2005;122:153–64.

Alfrayh A, Khoja T, Alhusai K. FEV1 and FVC pulmonary function reference values among 6–18-year-old children: a multi-centre study in Saudi Arabia. East Mediterr Health J 2014;20:424–30.

Braun L, Wolfgang M, Dickersin K. Defining race/ethnicity and explaining difference in research studies on lung function. Eur Resp J 2013;41(6):1362–70.

Quanjer PH. Lung function, race and ethnicity: a conundrum. Eur Respir J 2013;41:1249–51. Erratum in Eur Respir J 2013;42(4):1162.

Ayub M, Zaidi SH, Burki NK. Spirometry and flow volume curves in healthy, normal Pakistanis. Br J Dis Chest 1987;81:35–44.

Memon MA, Sandila MP, Ahmed ST. Spirometric reference values in healthy, non-smoking, urban Pakistani population. J Pak Med Assoc 2007;57:193–5.

Ayub M, Badar A, Daud M, Yousaf M, Khan FA, Waqar A. Pulmonary function tests in Nathiagali natives. J Ayub Med Coll Abbottabad 1998;10(1):24–7.

Schwartz JD, Katz SA, Fegley RW, Tockman MS. Sex and race differences in the development of lung function. Am Rev Respir Dis 1988;138:1415–21.

Uškin E, Smolej-Naranèiæ N, Schachter EN, Mustajbegoviæ J. Spirometric reference values for nonsmoking boys 9–16 years of age. Acta Med Auxol 1996;28:159–67.

Stevens WH, van Hartevelt JH, The PE, Smink HA, Quanjer PH. Validity of ECSC prediction equations for spirometric indices in Dutch conscripts. Eur Respir J 1994;7(1):29–34.

Burney P, Hooper R. Lung function, genetics and ethnicity. Eur Respir J 2014;43(2):340–2.

Published

2014-06-01

Issue

Vol. 26 No. 2 (2014): JOURNAL OF AYUB MEDICAL COLLEGE, ABBOTTABAD

Section

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

License

Journal of Ayub Medical College, Abbottabad is an OPEN ACCESS JOURNAL which means that all content is FREELY available without charge to all users whether registered with the journal or not. The work published by J Ayub Med Coll Abbottabad is licensed and distributed under the creative commons License  CC BY ND Attribution-NoDerivs. Material printed in this journal is OPEN to access, and are FREE for use in academic and research work with proper citation. J Ayub Med Coll Abbottabad accepts only original material for publication with the understanding that except for abstracts, no part of the data has been published or will be submitted for publication elsewhere before appearing in J Ayub Med Coll Abbottabad. The Editorial Board of J Ayub Med Coll Abbottabad makes every effort to ensure the accuracy and authenticity of material printed in J Ayub Med Coll Abbottabad. However, conclusions and statements expressed are views of the authors and do not reflect the opinion/policy of J Ayub Med Coll Abbottabad or the Editorial Board.

USERS are allowed to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles, or use them for any other lawful purpose, without asking prior permission from the publisher or the author. This is in accordance with the BOAI definition of open access.

AUTHORS retain the rights of free downloading/unlimited e-print of full text and sharing/disseminating the article without any restriction, by any means including twitter, scholarly collaboration networks such as ResearchGate, Academia.eu, and social media sites such as Twitter, LinkedIn, Google Scholar and any other professional or academic networking site.