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Respiratory function in an ageing population

Part of: Bespoke shallow archive Weizmann

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 November 2009

MR Miller  and
OF Pedersen
MR Miller*
Affiliation:
Department of Medicine, University Hospital Birmingham, UK
OF Pedersen
Affiliation:
Institute of Public Health, Department of Environmental and Occupational Medicine, University of Aarhus, Denmark
*
Address for correspondence: Dr MR Miller, Department of Medicine, University of Birmingham, Selly Oak Hospital, Birmingham B29 6JD, UK. Email: [email protected]
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Summary

With more elderly people in the population there are more people surviving with lung diseases that need assessing so that the best treatment options can be chosen and delivered. Lung function is known to deteriorate with age and this is largely due to a reduction in muscle strength, an increased alveolar size leading to reduced elastic recoil, and a reduction in chest wall compliance. The processes involved are outlined together with the effects this has on normal lung function. Tests of lung function are commonly used to determine whether an individual patient's lungs are working abnormally, and using a lower limit of normal is the best method to use. The problems and solutions for defining the lower limit of normal for older subjects are discussed. If a subject's lung function is deemed abnormal from comparing their tests against a predicted value, then assessing how severe this abnormality is can be determined by using the results as per cent of predicted, or better still by relating the value to a minimum survivable limit.

Keywords

respiratory functionlung functionageingolder people
Type
Biological gerontology
Information
Reviews in Clinical Gerontology , Volume 19 , Issue 3 , August 2009 , pp. 149 - 158
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2009

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