Pulmonary function: relation to aging, cigarette habit, and mortality.
The relation of pulmonary function to aging and cigarette habits has been examined cross sectionally and longitudinally in the Framingham cohort. On cross-sectional analysis, women were found to have lower forced vital capacity (FVC) and forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV-1) values than men even after adjusting for height. Their FEV-1 percent was, on the other hand, higher than those of men. As the population aged over 10 years, their FVC and FEV-1 declined 9% to 27% depending upon age and sex. The FEV-1 percent, however, showed a decline only in the older age groups. In a cross-sectional analysis, cigarette smoking showed an inverse association to FVC and FEV-1 percent. Longitudinally, cigarette smokers showed a more rapid decline in FVC in 10 years than nonsmokers. On giving up smoking their FVC became more like that of the nonsmokers. A striking relation of FVC to mortality was noted in both sexes, which is not accounted for by associated cigarette habits.
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008168:Lung / Q000502:physiology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D008176:Lung Volume Measurements; D008297:Male; D008404:Massachusetts; D008875:Middle Aged; D009026:Mortality; D012123:Pulmonary Ventilation; D012737:Sex Factors; D012907:Smoking / Q000503:physiopathology*; D014797:Vital Capacity