Mechanisms of Hypoxemia in the Elderly

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Abstract
Three hundred eight healthy subjects 20-106 years old were subjected to a battery of respiratory function tests. The elderly and old subjects exhibited diminished vital lung capacity at the expense of all its component volumes; there was increased residual volume, decreased ventilation effectiveness, diminished bronchial patency and bronchospasm, decreased blood filling of lung, reduced elasticity and increased rigidity of pulmonary vessels, and disturbed uniformity of pulmonary ventilation. The adaptive potentialities of external respiration were found to be limited. The alveolar partial oxygen pressure, however, showed no age-related differences. Arterial blood oxygen saturation was reduced, and the alveolar-arterial oxygen gradient was increased, probably as a consequence of discoordination in ventilation and blood circulation of the lung. Age-related changes of the broncho-pulmonary apparatus are not absolutely irreversible even in advanced old age. Indicative of this is the favorable effect of an 8-week course of an active regimen designed to improve the functional state of the external respiratory system.

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