Pulmonary function responses of older men and women to ozone exposure

Pulmonary Response to Ozone Exposures in Healthy Individuals Aged 55 Years or Greater

“…Drechsler-Parks and coworkers reported pulmonary function changes in men and women 57-76 years of age after exposure to 0.45 ppm O3. 21 It is admitted that the small increases in RT seen in our study have marginal clinical significance, however, these data are interesting because of the relatively short exposure periods and low exercise level. This study adds important information about the responses of a potentially susceptible, ever increasing segment of our population following exposure to O3 at realistic ambient air concentrations.…”

Reproducibility of the Pulmonary Function Response of Older Men and Women to a 2-Hour Ozone Exposure.

“…6 These hypotheses must now also account for the variability in response seen in the subjects who did not respond the same to each of the three ozone exposures if they are to be proved the primary causes of the differential response of older individuals to ozone.…”

“…These are the same subjects who participated in the Drechsler-Parks et al 6 study. The subjects were recruited from organizations serving the retired community.…”

“…5 found a significant trend for an age related decrease in response to ozone exposure from 19 to 35 years of Copyright 1988-APCA age. Drechsler-Parks et al 6 have recently demonstrated in a group of eight men and eight women retirees, a significant group mean decrement in pulmonary function response when exposed to 0.45 ppm ozone for 2 hours in an intermittent exercise protocol, with a range from +4 to -12 percent in FEV-1. The general lack of data on healthy older subjects and evidence which indicates that some older people are sensitive to some degree to ozone exposure prompted us to examine the reproducibility of the response of healthy older subjects to repeated exposures to 0.45 ppm ozone.…”

Adaptation by Older Individuals Repeatedly Exposed to 0.45 Parts per Million Ozone for Two Hours

“…We recently reported 7 on the pulmonary function responses of a group of healthy older men and women (51-76 years of age) exposed to 0.45 ppm O3 for 2 hours alternating 20-min work (minute ventilation = 27 L) and rest periods. Older men and women were generally less responsive to O3 than young adults.…”