BACKGROUND Persons with vertebral fracture may have reduced pulmonary function, but this association has not been much studied. The aim of this cross-sectional study was therefore to examine the relationship between vertebral fracture and pulmonary function in a general, elderly population. METHODS Vertebral morphometry was used for vertebral fracture assessment in 2132 elderly men (n = 892) ...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Lung function depends nonlinearly on age and height, so that the use of age and height specific reference values is required. The widely used age and height specific GLI (Global Lung Initiative) z-scores derived from cross-sectional data, however, have not been proven for validity in an elderly population or for longitudinal data. Therefore, we aimed to test their vali...

The Global Initiative of Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) guidelines define chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in subjects with FEV(1)/FVC <0.7. However, the use of this fixed ratio may result in over-diagnosis of COPD in the elderly, especially with mild degree of COPD. The lower limit of normal (LLN) can be used to minimize the potential misclassification. The aim of this stu...

The objective of the present study was to establish multiethnic, all-age prediction equations for estimating stature from arm span in males and females. The arm span/height ratio (ASHR) from 13 947 subjects (40.9% females), aged 5-99 years, from nine centres (in China, Europe, Ghana, India and Iran) was used to predict ASHR as a function of age using the lambda, mu and sigma method. Z-scores fo...

A retrospective analysis of spirometric data from divers attending for annual medical examination at intervals from three to nine years was carried out to examine the long term effect of diving on lung volumes. Those divers with records over a three or four year interval (group 1, n = 224) showed a mean reduction of forced vital capacity (FVC) of 240 ml; those with records over a five or more y...

Systemic sclerosis-related interstitial lung disease (SSc-ILD) is the leading cause of death in SSc. In this study, we aimed to describe the baseline severity and evolution of forced vital capacity (FVC) and diffusing capacity for carbon monoxide (DLCO) in patients with SSc-ILD and to assess the baseline clinical, biological and high-resolution CT scan (HRCT) predictors of this evolution. Basel...

INTRODUCTION The objective of the present study was to examine the association of baseline demographic and clinical characteristics with sequentially obtained measurements of forced vital capacity (FVC), expressed as a percentage of the predicted value, and to identify predictors of the decline rate in FVC over time in the Genetics versus Environment in Scleroderma Outcome Study (GENISOS). ME...

tween July 1991 and March 1994 and who underwent lung resection. The predicted postoperative FEVi and FVC were calculated based on the number of segments resected and were compared with the actual postoper¬ ative FEVi and FVC. Setting: This study was conducted at a university, tertiary referral hospital. Patients: All patients were evaluated at a multidisci¬ plinary lung cancer clinic and under...