title: Intermediate alpha1-antitrypsin deficiency and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in Yugoslavia.
abstract: As part of a larger investigation of factors associated with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease among Yugoslavian men, an attempt was made to measure the role played by alpha1-antitrypsin deficiency in the causation of those diseases. Almost 3,000 men from Tuzla, an industrial and mining center in central Bosnia, were screened for alpha1-antitrypsin deficiency. Twenty-six men heterozygous for the Pi MZ phenotype were found in this population. The men with the Pi MZ phenotype were compared with a random sample from the total population. The analysis of the data showed that there is an apparent physiologic impairment associated with Pi Z heterozygosity that produces a shift in the relationships between the different lung volumes without over-all hyperinflation, namely, an increase in residual volume at the expense of vital capacity. However, because of the low prevalence of the Pi Z gene, it does not appear to account for much of the high rate of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease found in this population.
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D006801:Humans; D008173:Lung Diseases, Obstructive / Q000097:blood* / Q000235:genetics; D008176:Lung Volume Measurements; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010641:Phenotype; D015022:Yugoslavia; D019896:alpha 1-Antitrypsin Deficiency