Significant improvement in lung capacity over the past 100 years

One hundred years of gradual improvement in lung capacity, with each group doing measurably better than the previous one. This is how it looked in Europe since the late 1800s, according to an international study. The University of Gothenburg now presents findings that are expected to influence diagnostic criteria for many lung diseases.

It is an extensive European research collaboration whose results are published in The Lancet Respiratory Medicine. Because lung function has improved so much, researchers report that healthcare needs to change its view of what’s normal.

The study is based on a large research base: lung measurements of 243,465 non-smokers in ten European population studies, two of which were Swedish. Study participants were born between 1884 and 1996. Lung measurements were taken between 1978 and 2009, when study participants were 20 to 94 years old.

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In all population studies, participants’ lung capacity was measured by spirometry. The method shows how much air a person can exhale during the first second of forced exhalation after the maximum inhalation, as well as the volume of exhalation as a whole. Values ​​were adjusted for age, gender, height, weight, smoking status and from which study they came.

– We notice a slight improvement every year, with each group exhaling in the first second by 4.8 milliliters, and in each breath by 8.8 milliliters, compared to those born a year earlier. It’s a wonderfully interesting development to see, says Louis Vanfletteren, Senior Lecturer at the University of Gothenburg, chief medical officer of the COPD Center at Sahlgrenska University Hospital and one of the study’s lead authors.

affects standards

The improvement in lung capacity at the population level was largely linear. This means the year of birth may need to be factored into the diagnostic criteria for charcoal and other lung diseases, according to the researchers behind the study.

We must consider the reference values ​​to be considered normal, and realize that the conditions are quite different for different cohorts. If the diagnostic criteria remain unchanged, it could mean that too many patients are judged to meet the criteria for carbon monoxide, while there is also a risk of lung disease being systematically underestimated, says Lowe Vanfletteren.

The improvement is flattened

The fact that the population has grown longer is a strong contributing factor to improved lung function, with a larger chest providing more room for the lungs. But even when the researchers adjusted for height and other known factors, they could see an increase for each group. Possible explanations may be that care has improved, fewer people are exposed to secondhand smoke and awareness of harmful air emissions has increased.

But in recent years, the improvement in lung capacity has slowed.

Lung function is still improving, but not as clearly as before. Possible explanations for this slowdown may be that obesity has increased at the population level, while daily exercise has decreased, comments Lowie Vanfleteren.

The study was conducted under CADSET, a European Lung Association research collaboration, with researchers from Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, the United Kingdom, Sweden and Austria. The first author is James P. Allenson at Imperial College London. Bo Lundbäck and Bright Nwaru are also co-authors from the University of Gothenburg.

Title: Changes in lung function in European adults born between 1884 and 1996 and implications for the diagnosis of lung disease: a cross-sectional analysis of ten population studies; https://doi.org/10.1016/S2213-2600(21)00313-1

Read the full study: https://gubox.box.com/s/v33ty3ghauqatw4t0yanuh3v01h34x5x

Contact: Lowie Vanfleteren, Tel. 0736 60 17 30, [email protected]

Margarita Gustafsson Cobesta
Press Officer Calling
Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg
Goal. 0705 30 19 80 Email [email protected]

Sahlgrenska Academy is the medical school of the University of Gothenburg Education and research in medicine, dentistry and care science. The college has 4,851 full-time students, 942 doctoral students, and 1,774 employees, www.gu.se/sahlgrenska-akademin