TY - JOUR T1 - Lower limit of normal (LLN) for lung function parameters for over 80 year-old caucasians JF - European Respiratory Journal JO - Eur Respir J VL - 38 IS - Suppl 55 SP - p4155 AU - Simone Accordini AU - Alessandro Fois AU - Barbara Piras AU - Giovanni Porqueddu AU - Valentina Spada AU - Francesco Borgo AU - Roberto de Marco AU - Pietro Pirina Y1 - 2011/09/01 UR - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/38/Suppl_55/p4155.abstract N2 - Spirometric reference values for over 80 year-old populations have not been calculated yet. The present study is aimed at estimating the LLN equations for Caucasians.In an ongoing clinical study, 214 subjects aged 80-88 performed valid lung function tests (according to the acceptability and reproducibility criteria of the American Thoracic Society) in 2001/2011 at the University Hospital of Sassari in Sardinia (Italy). During the clinical examination, these subjects: (i) did not report a diagnosis of respiratory diseases, symptoms of dyspnoea at rest/productive cough/bronchospasm, drug use for respiratory problems, and comorbidities (associated with impaired lung function) during lifetime; (ii) reported to be non smokers or to have quit smoking for ≥20 years. Past smokers with >15 pack-years were excluded.Among the 120 males and 94 females, the mean height was 162 and 151 cm, and the percentage of past smokers was 59.2 and 4.3%, respectively. The sex-age specific mean (standard deviation) of FEV1, FVC, and FEV1/FVC ratio is reported in the following table:View this table:On average, the FEV1/FVC ratio did not significantly decrease according to age among males (p=0.42), whereas it slightly increased among females (p=0.054).These preliminary results suggest that the reference equations obtained from younger populations cannot be used for the long-term survivors. Appropriate LLN equations will be computed when a greater sample size is reached. ER -