Abstract
Specific diffusing capacity (DL/VA) data were calculated from measurements previously analyzed for different functions. The measurements had been made on healthy community dwelling subjects between the ages of 15 and 35. The linear regressions on age and height for both DL and DL/VA were calculated from the same measurements on the same subjects. DL/VA decreased as height increased in all sex, age, and smoking subgroups studied although the negative coefficient for height achieved statistical significance only in some groups.
In both male and female subjects an increase in age or smoking decreased DL/VA significantly but did not affect DL. This suggests that the specific diffusing capacity (DL/VA) will be a more useful parameter than DL in epidemiological studies to detect environmental effects, for example, those of pollution, and that a height term should be incorporated into prediction formulas for clinical use. We suggest the use of the regression equations we obtained for young adult nonsmokers as prediction formulas. These are, for men aged 17–35 years: DL/VA=9.60−0.074A−0.011H; and for women aged 15–35 years: DL/VA=12.97−0.063A−0.037H, where A = age in years and H = height in cm.
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Rosenberg, E., Ernst, P., Leech, J. et al. Specific diffusing capacity (DL/VA) as a measure of the lung’s diffusing characteristics: Prediction formulas for young adults. Lung 164, 207–215 (1986). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02713645
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02713645