Cigarette smoke, accounting for the greatest population impact on the respiratory system, produces effects similar to aging and this is reflected in disease processes such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). Intrinsic aging alone produces changes, but there are also consequences of lifetime accumulation of insults by environmental factors and recovery from such insults. ![]() It is imperative to understand the changes that occur in the respiratory system with age because many disease processes have a direct correlation with age-related changes in respiratory physiology. Since FEV 1/FVC values below 0.65 are typically indicative of airway obstruction, this parameter may overestimate obstructive disease in extreme old age. Though total lung capacity (TLC), made up of the two components of vital capacity (VC) and residual volume (RV), does not change with age, age-related changes in lung physiology, bone, and muscle result in decreased VC with a corresponding increase in RV as measured by standard spirometry.Īging results in a loss in forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV 1) of about one-third liter per decade, and the decline in FEV 1 with aging is greater than the decline in total forced vital capacity (FVC). The mean maximal inspiratory pressure (MIP) is associated with decreased handgrip strength, lower body mass index, and current smoking status for healthy 85-year-old men, it is approximately 30% lower than that of 65-year-old men. ![]() This causes reduced lung recoil, and increases dead space impairing gas exchange. Age-related changes within alveoli account for “senile emphysema” characterized by alveolar dilatation without destructive changes to the alveolar walls.
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