Influence of Age on Lung Function Tests

Considerable attempts have been made in the previous studies to study the significant variables affecting the standards for ventilator function including age, height, sex, size of sample tested, racial and ethnic composition, criteria for normality, tobacco smoking, environmental conditions, altitude of residence etc. The present study was necessitated as very few studies have been conducted in northern India to study the effect of age on pulmonary function tests. Study was performed on 50 subjects under the age group of 25-75 years, further divided into 5 age groups: 25-35 years, 36-45 years, 46-55 years, 56-65 years and 66-75 years. This was a cross-sectional design, which was performed in the Department of Physiotherapy. The values of all lung function tests, namely, FVC, FEV1, PEFR, FEV1/FVC, SVC and MVV were found to be negatively correlated with age (r = -0.446, -0.495, -0.427, -0.312, -0.392 and-0.919, respectively). It was concluded the the lung functions significantly decline with age.