STUDY TO ASSESS PULMONARY FUNCTION TESTS IN ELDERLY POPULATION

Background and Objectives: Ageing is associated with progressive declining in pulmonary function. Awareness of the basic changes in respiratory physiology associated with aging is important for for diagnosis as well as for follow up of pulmonary diseases. Numerous studies observed that FEV1 and FVC remain stable for 5-10 years after 25 years and decline in later adulthood. The aim of the present study was thus to evaluate pulmonary function tests in elderly persons. Methodology: The present study was conducted on 168 elderly healthy, nonsmoker subjects (60 years and above) of three old age home located at Asarwa. PFTs were performed with the help of Medspiror (RMS). Three readings were obtained at same time of the day between 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM after a light breakfast in the morning and best one was selected for the final analysis as per ATS guideline. The data was entered in “Microsoft Excel” and analyzed using the Epi info 7. Result: Out of which 96 (57.1%) subjects were males and 72 (42.5%) subjects were females. The mean age for male population (72.4 ± 5.8 years) was higher than the female group (66.2 ± 7.2 years). The mean value of FVC, FEV1, FEV3 and PEFR in elderly subjects were 1.8 liters, 1.4 liters, 1.8 liters and 3.3 liters respectively. All parameter were significantly correlated with both height and age of the subjects. There was significant decline in mean values of FVC, FEV1, FEV3 with advancing age in both males and females. The values of FVC and FEV3 in male were lower than the values derived from previous prediction equations. In females, FEV1, FEV3 and PEFR were lower than prediction equations. Discussion: In our study, All the lung function parameters (FVC, FEV1, FEV3 and PEFR) were higher in male subjects as compared to females. The mean value of FVC, FEV1, FEV3 and PEFR in both gender were significantly correlated with both height and age of the subjects. Similarly Bala et al observed positive correlation of FVC, FEV1, FEV3 with height and age.8 There was significant decline with advancing age in mean values of FVC, FEV1, FEV3 in both males and females. Similar results were reported in other studies. 9- 11Conclusion: we conclude that all lung function indices of study subjects were significantly related to age and height and these value were higher in male population than females. All PFT parameters shows significant reduction with advancing age.