Abstract
Background: Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is frequently associated with parenchymal lung disease.
Objectives: To evaluate the association between spirometric values and pulmonary artery systolic pressure (PASP) in young subjects without overt lung disease
Methods: Applicants to the Israeli air force undergo routine evaluation that includes resting spirometry and echocardiography. Applicants with evidence of overt lung disease were excluded from the study. All echocardiographic studies performed in the years 1994-2010 (N=7042) were retrieved. Medical files in which PASP was measured and spirometric values were available were reviewed. The association between PASP and forced vital capacity (FVC), forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1), FEV1/FVC ratio, peak expiratory flow rate (PEFR) and forced expiratory flow 25-75 (FEF 25-75) was evaluated.
Results: We identified 646 air force applicants who underwent echocardiography in which PASP was measurable and had a record of spirometry. Applicants were mostly male (607 applicants, 94% of study population) and their average age was 18.2±0.7 years. Mean PASP was 26.4±5.2 mmHg (range 10-41 mmHg). None of the spirometric variables were found to be in correlation with PASP.
Conclusions: PASP in young healthy subjects is not associated to a significant degree with spirometric variables. Lung mechanics probably do not contribute significantly to PASP in this population.
Footnotes
- Corresponding author: Alon Grossman MD alon2206{at}012.net.il
Contribution of authors Alon Grossman- Writing of manuscript, data analysis, Ofra Kalter-Leibovici and Michal Benderly- Statistical analysis, Barak Gordon and Alex Prokupetz- Data collection
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