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Normal spirometry values in healthy elderly: the Rotterdam Study

  • RESPIRATORY EPIDEMIOLOGY
  • Published:
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Abstract

Although many different reference values for spirometry are available from various studies, the elderly are usually underrepresented. Therefore, our objective was to assess reference values in a sample of healthy participants from a prospective population-based cohort study, including a large proportion of elderly. We included spirometry measurements of healthy, never smokers, from the Rotterdam Study and excluded participants with respiratory symptoms or prescriptions for respiratory medication. Age- and height-specific curves for the 5th (lower limit of normal) and the 50th (median) percentile of Forced Expiratory Volume in 1 s (FEV1), Forced Vital Capacity (FVC), and the ratio (FEV1/FVC) were calculated by quantile regression models. The group of healthy elderly study subjects consisted of 1,125 individuals, with a mean age of 68 years, ranging from 47 to 96 years of age. Sex stratified equations for the median and the lower limit of normal were calculated adjusted for age and height. In this study, we report age- and height-dependent reference limits for FEV1, FVC, and FEV1/FVC in a large population, and prediction equations for the lower limit of normal and median values for a sample containing a large proportion of healthy elderly.

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Acknowledgments

Study Design: A.H. Data collection: A.H., D.L, L.L., G.G.B and B.H.S. Data-analysis and writing: D.W.L, T.I., B.H.S and G.G.B. Critical Review: G.G.B., T.I., L.L, A.H., H.G.M.L. and B.H.S. D.W.L and B.H.S. take responsibility for the integrity of this work. The Rotterdam Study is funded by Erasmus Medical Center and Erasmus University, Rotterdam, Netherlands Organization for the Health Research and Development (ZonMw), the Research Institute for Diseases in the Elderly (RIDE), the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science, the Ministry for Health, Welfare and Sports, the European Commission (DG XII) and the Municipality of Rotterdam. The authors are grateful to the study participants, the staff from the Rotterdam Study and the participating general practitioners. Lies Lahousse is the recipient of a European Respiratory Society Fellowship (STRTF fellowship n° 131-2011).

Conflict of interest

None of the authors had any conflicts of interest to declare with respect to this paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Epidemiology, Erasmus Medical Center, P.O. Box 2040, 3000 CA, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

    Daan Willem Loth, Lies Lahousse, Albert Hofman & Bruno Hugo Stricker

  2. Inspectorate of Health Care, The Hague, The Netherlands

    Daan Willem Loth & Bruno Hugo Stricker

  3. Institute for Community Medicine, University of Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany

    Till Ittermann

  4. Department of Respiratory Medicine, Ghent University Hospital, Ghent, Belgium

    Lies Lahousse & Guy Gaston Brusselle

  5. Division of Pharmacoepidemiology and Pharmacotherapy, Utrecht Institute for Pharmaceutical Sciences, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands

    Hubert Gerardus Maria Leufkens

  6. Department of Medical Informatics, Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

    Bruno Hugo Stricker

  7. Department of Internal Medicine, Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

    Bruno Hugo Stricker

Authors
  1. Daan Willem Loth
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  2. Till Ittermann
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  3. Lies Lahousse
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  4. Albert Hofman
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  5. Hubert Gerardus Maria Leufkens
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  6. Guy Gaston Brusselle
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  7. Bruno Hugo Stricker
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Bruno Hugo Stricker.

Electronic supplementary material

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10654_2013_9800_MOESM1_ESM.pdf

This figure shows the result of the equations for FEV1 from our study compared to those from the study by Hankinson and the ECCS/ERS equations. These graphs show the values for the age range of 60 to 90 years and heights of 160, 170, 180 and 190 cm for males. For Hankinson’s and our equation, we present both the predicted values and the lower limit or normal (PDF 45 kb)

10654_2013_9800_MOESM2_ESM.pdf

This figure shows the result of the equations for FEV1 from our study compared to those from the study by Hankinson and the ECCS/ERS equations. These graphs show the values for the age range of 60 to 90 years and heights of 150, 160, 170 and 180 cm for females. For Hankinson’s and our equation, we present both the predicted values and the lower limit or normal (PDF 44 kb)

10654_2013_9800_MOESM3_ESM.pdf

This figure shows the result of the equations for FVC from our study compared to those from the study by Hankinson and the ECCS/ERS equations. These graphs show the values for the age range of 60 to 90 years and heights of 160, 170, 180 and 190 cm for males. For Hankinson’s and our equation, we present both the predicted values and the lower limit or normal (PDF 44 kb)

10654_2013_9800_MOESM4_ESM.pdf

This figure shows the result of the equations for FVC from our study compared to those from the study by Hankinson and the ECCS/ERS equations. These graphs show the values for the age range of 60 to 90 years and heights of 150, 160, 170 and 180 cm for females. For Hankinson’s and our equation, we present both the predicted values and the lower limit or normal (PDF 44 kb)

10654_2013_9800_MOESM5_ESM.pdf

This figure shows the result of the equations for FEV1/FVC from our study compared to those from the study by Hankinson and the ECCS/ERS equations. These graphs show the values for the age range of 60 to 90 years and heights of 175 cm for males and 165 cm females. For Hankinson’s and our equation, we present both the predicted values and the lower limit or normal (PDF 31 kb)

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Loth, D.W., Ittermann, T., Lahousse, L. et al. Normal spirometry values in healthy elderly: the Rotterdam Study. Eur J Epidemiol 28, 329–334 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10654-013-9800-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10654-013-9800-4

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