Spirometric Norms in Healthy Adults of Ahmednagar District of Maharashtra

Context: Pulmonary function test (PFT) is an invaluable tool for assessment of lung function and is also the investigation of choice for overall assessment of respiratory function. Though its application in diagnosis and management of respiratory diseases is not yet routine in our country but predictive normal values are essential for meaningful clinical interpretation of these tests.

Aims: To obtain reference values for various lung functions and develop suitable predictive equations.

Methods and Material: Non-smoking healthy adult subjects attending the OPD/Indoor patients, hospital staff and medical students at Vikhe Patil Hospital, Ahmednagar underwent spirometric evaluation of various lung functions on a autospirometer. Three such efforts were made for each recording and best was selected based on standardisation of spirometry study based on ATS/ERS task force series.

Statistical Analysis: Data was analysed as mean and standard deviation. Highly significant parameters were used as predictor variables and regression equations were formulated using multiple regression technique.

Results: In both males and females age and height showed consistently high correlation with various pulmonary function parameters. Increase in age by one year resulted in 0.017 L decline in FVC whereas increase in height by a centimeter improved FVC by 0.063 L.

Conclusion: Lung function is known to vary with ethnicity. Therefore, it is important to establish normative values relevant to the ethnic characteristics of local populations. Further studies of lung function in different communities may contribute to the understanding of the relative roles of genetic constitution and exogenous influence on lung function development.