Pulmonary circulation in the aged.

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Abstract
Physiologic changes in the pulmonary circulation with age were investigated in 8 elderly subjects with essentially normal cardiopulmonary systems. All subjects were 60 years of age or older (average age, 66). The pressure-flow and resistance-flow relationship of the pulmonary circulation were studied at high flow rates by utilizing exercise and unilateral pulmonary artery occlusion. The results were compared with a young control group (average age, 39) and with existing data in the literature. The data are suggestive of a linear relationship between the pulmonary arterial pressure and flow in both groups over the observed flow range. The total pulmonary vascular resistances fell in all young control subjects as flow was increased. The older subjects did not show a uniform pattern. However, their average pulmonary vascular resistance was higher than the younger group. This difference is statistically significant at P [image]0.05. At rest there was no significant difference between the 2 groups.