Lung Volumes in Polynesian Children

Abstract

Polynesian (Maori and Pacific Island) children account for approximately one quarter of the children in New Zealand, but good data for lung function in this group are not available. In this review, we report lung volume measurements in 571 healthy children 5 to 13 yr of age: 270 Polynesians (139 boys and 131 girls) and 301 Europeans (177 boys and 124 girls). All measurements were made in a body plethysmograph. Polynesian boys had significantly larger VC, FVC, FRC, TLC, and expiratory reserve volume than did Polynesian girls. Polynesian and European children generally showed different slope and intercept relationships for the prediction of lung volume from height. Racial differences are not adequately explained by differences in body proportions or social factors including parental smoking. Possible explanations include racial differences in lung growth and maturation.

Spirometric Reference Values in Tunisian Children

“…A similar increase was seen in other studies [7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20]. The increased lung function during the latter part of puberty could be explained by several effects on lung volume and muscle strength [21, 22].…”

“…Lung function is known to vary with ethnicity, and it is therefore important to establish special reference values relevant to the ethnic group of the local population [5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18]. In contrast to genetic constitution, environmental factors affecting growth and development such as child health nutritional status and air quality may change over long periods of time [19], and therefore lung function values for a given ethnic community may change over time.…”

“…Various multiple prediction equations for spirometric parameters were applied to the series over all ages examined, and the final selected one was the standard regression model used by many authors [7,8,9,10,11,12,13]. This model includes the logarithmic values of both function values and body height.…”

“…With regard to lung function, ethnic effects have been reported for Hispanics [6], Orientals [7, 8] and Indians [4] when compared with European or white North American children [9, 10]. Some previous studies reported significantly lower lung volumes in healthy Asian people as compared for instance to the European community [11].…”

Spirometry results (FEV1 and FVC) in young Bantu men from Tanzania vs environmental and family characteristics

“…The application of spirometry standards set by developed countries in the African environment can lead to erroneous diagnoses. Literature does not provide proposals for arriving at reference values based on anthropometric ratios calculated from several anthropometric measurements (Asher et al, 1987;Boggs et al, 1981;Crapo et al, 2009;Pellegrino et al, 2005).…”