COMPARATIVE EVALUATION OF SPIROMETRY PARAMETERS IN HEALTHY YOUNG AND ELDERLY ADULTS POPULATION IN PUNJAB, INDIA

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Spirometry is a vital tool for the assessment of pulmonary function status. Spirometry can be used to demonstrate the age-related decline in pulmonary function. The spirometry values can be used as reference values for a particular age group. The aims of our study was to compare spirometry values between the young and elderly groups and evaluate age-related changes in both groups. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted on 600 adults, which divided into two healthy groups: one was of young adults (18-35 years), and other was of elderly adults (>60 years) of 300 persons, each taken over a period of one year, in the Department of pulmonary medicine, a tertiary care hospital, Punjab. We conducted spirometry in both age group. Spirometry values were measured FVC, FEV1, FVC/FEV1, PEFR, and FEF25- 75 % of each groups.The subjects were selected based on random sampling RESULT: Spirometry values compared between young and elderly adults. Mean BMI in young and elderly groups was 25.09±2.87 and 25.82±2.45, respectively. Spirometry values in FVC , FEV1, FEV1/FVC , PEFR and FEF25-75% in young was 4.31± 0.18 , 3.84,± 0.88± 0.02, 9.87± 0.38 and 3.75 ±0.26 and elderly age group 3.01±, 2.60 ±0.85± 0.02, 7.70± 0.30 and 2.82 ± 0.26. On statistical analysis, p value <0.001 in all spirometry parameters. CONCLUSION: The study shows that there was a decline in spirometry parameters of healthy adults with the increase in age. This decline was signicant in all spirometric parameters (FVC, FEV1, FEV1/FVC, PEFR, FEF25–75%) measured in the present study