Towards identifying the susceptible smoker
article
The single- and multiple-breath nitrogen test (including a determination of residual volume), and maximal expiratory flow-volume curves, were used in a random sample of a general population participating in an epidemiological survey. Data became available on 419 men and 313 women, who were divided into groups on the basis of smoking habits and symptoms of chronic non-specific lung disease. ln all groups, the age-adjusted distribution of the slope of phase III was skewed to the right ; in asymptomatic non-smoking men, it was log-normal. In men, the asymptomatic smokers as well as the symptomatic subjects can be divided into two populations. One of these. comprising about 40 per cent of the men, is made up of subjects who can be identified as susceptible to the harmful effect of tobacco smoke on the lung. They are also characterized by a lower FEV', higher RV/TLC, and to some extent by a higher lotal tobacco consumption. The functional profile of the symptomatic men was remarkably similar to that ol the asymptomatic smoking nren, In women, similar conclusions could not be drawn because the distributions of phase III were not different, The results fit in with the hypothesis that there is a variation in the susceptibility to the effects of smoking determined by endogenous factors; the sex differences suggest that the response ay be modified by hormonal factors.
TNO Identifier
1000664
Source
Bulletin Européen de Physiopathologie Respiratoire, 17(3), pp. 399-310.
Pages
399-310
Files
To receive the publication files, please send an e-mail request to TNO Repository.