The Mechanical Behavior of the Lungs in Healthy Elderly Persons12

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Abstract
Physical properties of the lungs of 28 healthy subjects 50 years and older were measured in the sitting position. Values were related to measurements of total lung capacity and its subdivisions. When compared with a group of 11 healthy adults from 22 to 47, the older subjects showed a shift in static volume-pressure curve of the lungs to the left so that at any transpulmonary pressure their lung volume was greater. Pulmonary flow-resistance was above 3.0 cm H2O/l/second in 10 out of 25 elderly subjects, and in only 1 out of 28 younger subjects. Among elderly subjects, dynamic compliance decreased consistently as the respiratory rate increased in those having values for pulmonary flow-resistance above 3.0 cm H2O/l/second. These changes in physical properties of the lungs were similar in kind to, though much less than, those found in emphysema. They were associated with an increase in functional residual capacity, decrease in vital capacity, and no change in total lung capacity.

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