It's Never Too Late to Stop Smoking But How Old Are Your Lungs?

Abstract

It is well-known that smoking is a major contributor to premature morbidity and mortality from cardiovascular diseases, lung cancer and at least six other cancers, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. But what is not commonly known is that pulmonary function impairment is a powerful predictor of patients at risk for premature morbidity and mortality from these smoking-related diseases. A reduced forced vital capacity, forced expiratory volume in 1 second, or both identify patients at increased risk of these smokingrelated disease states compared with patients matched by age, sex, and smoking histories who do not have pulmonary function impairment. Accordingly, simple spirometric measurements are both specific and nonspecific predictors of premature mortality from many causes. See also p 2741. More than a century ago, John Hutchinson, MB, a surgeon, invented the spirometer. 1 He offered his device to the insurance industry of London, England, as a potential tool to predict patients