Summary
We studied 120 volunteers, 20 to 49 year old, equally divided into sex and smoking habit groups to assess the ability of lung function tests to discriminate smokers from non smokers. The subjects performed routine spirometry including helium dilution, body plethysmography, single breath nitrogen test and forced expiratory manoeuvre. Admission criteria were: 1) normal chest x-ray, 2) absence of cardiorespiratory diseases, 3) absence of repiratory symptoms and exposures (by a questionnaire), 4) normal routine spirometry, and 5) FEV1/VC% > 70. The F-value was calculated for the difference between means in smokers and non-smokers, adjusted for age and height by covariance analysis on transformed variables. Results showed that CV, CV/VC%, N2%1, FEF75-85 and Vmax75 had the highest ability to discriminate smokers and non smokers both in males and females. Other tests, such as plethysmography and helium dilution, were not sensitive. A ranking approach, with the determination of percentage of misclassification for each test using a statistical method, confirmed this trend for both sexes. Assumptions of Gaussian distribution, use of equations based on other population, and use of arbitrary criteria of abnormality were thus avoided.
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Saracci, R. et al. (1984). A Comparison of the Ability of Different Lung Function Tests to Discriminate Asymptomatic Smokers and Non-Smokers. In: Cumming, G., Bonsignore, G. (eds) Smoking and the Lung. Ettore Majorana International Science Series. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-2409-6_27
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-2409-6_27
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