Association Analyses Between Cough Droplet Concentrations and Human Lung Function

Purpose: Cough droplets are generated in human airways. Human respiratory tract activities and lung function are linked to a number of processes resulting in the introduction of droplets with infectious content into indoor air. The scope of this work was to measure the droplet experiment and associated with lung function variables. Methods: A droplet experiment has been performed for measuring the coughed droplet characteristics from 18 nonsmoking healthy volunteers and tested simple lung function variables (Forced Expiratory Volume in 1 second (FEV1), Forced Vital Capacity (FVC), and Peak Expiratory Flow (PEF)) between genders. A 15-channel Grimm dust monitor (Grimm 1.108, Germany) were used to measure the real-time exhaled droplets. Mann-Whitney U tests and independent-sample t test were applied to compare gender-specific differences in particle concentrations and lung function variables. The association analyses between exhaled droplet concentrations and lung function were performed using SPSS, version 17.0. Results: The average peak concentration was determined to be 60,000 particles/L for total subjects, with a reading of 80,000 and 40,000 particles/L for males and females, respectively. Results showed that droplet concentrations for males were significantly higher than those for females (Mann-Whitney U test, p < 0.05). There was a significant gender difference in FEV1 (L), FVC (L) and PEF (L/sec) variables (Independent-sample t test, p < 0.01). Conclusions: There was a non-significant relationship between exhaled droplet concentrations and human lung function variables. However, this research could provide an opportunity for understanding how gender-specific, and inter/intra-subject analyses affects exhaled particle concentration and lung function variables.