Normative Values for Maximal Respiratory Pressures in Subjects Age 20 to 70 Years. A Cross-sectional Study

Purpose

Respiratory muscle strength is measured as a maximal inspiratory pressure (PI max) and maximal expiratory pressure (PE max). The purpose of this investigation is to obtain normal maximal inspiratory and expiratory pressure with respect to age, sex, height, weight and BMI in Indian population.

Subjects

In this cross sectional study 250 subjects with age from 20 to 70 years were recruited with convenient sampling. They are divided in to five groups i.e. 20-30, 30-40, 40-50, 50-60 and 60- 70. Each group had 50 subjects (males-25 and females-25).

Methods

For measurement of PE max the subject will inhale to near total lung capacity (TLC) and then exhale as hard as possible and for PI max the subjects exhales to near residual volume (RV) and then give a maximal inhalation effort. Three measurements were taken for each subjects and the best one was included for analysis.

Results

The mean value for PI max in male is (75 ± 20 cm H2O) and for PE max is (93± 33 cm H2O) and PI max in female is (48 ± 16 cm H2O) and for PE max is (60 ± 20 cm H2O).

Conclusion

Data obtained from this study will be useful as simple, reproducible, rapid assessment and interpretation of respiratory muscle function as well as treatment planning.