Original article
English
Nagib Fallah
Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Al-Tahadi, Sirt, Libya
JMJ Vol. 7, No. 2 (Summer 2007): 97-100
Abstract
Background: The people of Libyan Arab Jamahiriya originally are immigrants from Arabian Peninsula and many different African countries. Objectives: Normal lung function has been shown significant geographical and ethnic variation. The aim of this study is to derive normal reference spirometric values for healthy Libyan people. Method: Forced vital capacity (FVC), forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1), peak expiratory flow and forced mid-expiratory flow were measured in 438 healthy Libyan aged between 18 to 68 years. Multiple linear regression analysis was performed for each spirometric parameter against age, height and weight for male and female separately. Results: All measured spirometric parameters increased with height and were significantly higher in male than female. Height explained the maximum variance for all parameters. After accounting for height in the prediction equations, the contribution of age and weight was minimal. The expiratory ratio (FEV1: FVC) was independent of age and height and its mean values (± standard deviation) were slightly higher in female (91.1 ± 6.1%) than male (86.5 ± 7.1%; P < 0.001). Conclusion: The predicted normal values of the subjects using the derived equations were between 5 and 10% lower than the respective values for subjects in Caucasian sample groups. Keywords: Epidemiology, Libyan people, Spirometry, Ethnic variations, Forced expiratory indices Link/DOI: http://www.jmj.org.ly/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=1387