Pathophysiological Factors in the Relationship between Chronological Age and Calculated Lung Age as Detected in a Screening Setting in Community-Dwelling Subjects

Abstract

AimTo explore the relationship between pathophysiological factors and premature lung aging in a cohort of community-dwelling subjects in a health-screening setting.Methods16,107 pharmacy customers in Germany (5954 males, 10,153 females; mean age 59.7 years) participated in a lung function screening project by providing demographic data, including smoking status and known airway conditions and performing spirometry with a Vitalograph, a spirometry screening device. Lung age was calculated from the spirometric findings, and the difference between chronological age and calculated lung age was analyzed in its relationship to the demographic data in general linear models.ResultsIn the overall cohort, calculated lung age exceeded chronological age by 10.0 years. Based on the subset of non-smokers not reporting any airway conditions, Vitalograph data in this setting may underestimate FEV1 to some degree, but this apparently had little impact on the detection of association of lung age with pathophysiological factors or the corresponding effect sizes. The most important factors associated with greater lung age based on strength of association were presence of dyspnea, being a smoker, and reporting a history of COPD or asthma. Corresponding effect sizes for the difference between age and lung age were 6.5, 5.7, 13.9, and 8.3 years over the chronological age.Discussion and ConclusionThese data confirm the usefulness of screening devices of lung function testing for epidemiological but potentially also for pharmaco-epidemiological studies.

Factors associated with efficacy of an ibuprofen/pseudoephedrine combination drug in pharmacy customers with common cold symptoms

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“…We also found data collection among pharmacy customers to be a scientifically valuable source of information in a previous airway project. 22 The main advantages of such approach are that it can recruit a very broad, representative real life population with little restriction of inclusion/exclusion criteria and much larger numbers of patients than typically can be included in a classic randomised trial. These large numbers allow applying multiple regression approach to identify variables associated with positive treatment outcomes.…”

Characterization of differential patient profiles and therapeutic responses of pharmacy customers for four ambroxol formulations

“…However, we deem this setting suitable to obtain real-world evidence for over-the-counter medications. Moreover, our previous work using other airway-related over-the-counter medications has demonstrated the external validity of this approach for generating real-world evidence for non-prescription medicines [19, 20]. …”

Effect of smoking status on spirometric lung age in adult Chinese Men

“…The values of ∆LA are somewhat different, which may partly be caused by using different prediction equations for estimating SLA. Furthermore, Kardos et al (2016) reported that being a smoker was one of the most important factors related to higher SLA. They also noted that SLA was a useful method for monitoring the lung function of individuals with different smoking status.…”

“…Furthermore, Kardos et al. (2016) reported that being a smoker was one of the most important factors related to higher SLA. They also noted that SLA was a useful method for monitoring the lung function of individuals with different smoking status.…”