Chest dimensions in young adults with spontaneous pneumothorax.
Chest dimensions measured from standard chest roentgenograms of 46 young adult patients with pneumothorax were compared with measurements from an age- and sex-matched control group. The ratio of men to women was 3:1. On the average, the male patients had longer chests and greater height-to-width ratios than the controls. The only significant difference between female groups was a diminished anteroposterior diameter in the patients with pneumothorax. The study suggests that the physical shape of the chest, probably because of stress distribution in the lungs, can play a major role in the development of spontaneous pneumothorax.
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000886:Anthropometry / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008168:Lung / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D008297:Male; D011030:Pneumothorax / Q000209:etiology*; D013902:Radiography, Thoracic; D012737:Sex Factors; D013314:Stress, Mechanical; D013909:Thorax