Evaluation of the effect of smoking on pulmonary function in young healthy adults

Abstract

Background and Objective: Measurement of ventilatory function in diagnostic use consists of quantification of gas volume contained in lungs. Spirometry is the measure of airflow and lung volumes during forced expiratory maneuvers from full inspiration. It is fundamental to the diagnosis and assessment of airway disease and is often the only necessary test. Hence, the present study was undertaken to compare the pulmonary functions in age and sex matched smoking and nonsmoking subjects. Materials and Methods: After the institutional ethical clearance and informed consent from all the subjects the spirometric studies done to find out the various pulmonary function parameters such as, Forced vital capacity, Forced expiratory volume in first second of FVC, FEV ₁ %, peak expiratory flow and Maximum voluntary ventilation using standard procedure. Results were expressed as mean S.D. Statistical Analysis was done by students t-test for group wise comparison and P value 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Result: The age, body weight, body surface area and FVC didnt show statistically significant difference between the nonsmokers and smokers. Whereas, FEV _1, FEV ₁ / FVC ratio, PEFR and MVV was found to be significantly higher (P=0.000) in nonsmokers compared to smokers. Conclusion: Smoking cause a significant decline in PFT values in smoking adults, causing a deleterious effect on lung. Hence, further long term follow up and other tests are necessary to evaluate irreversible change in lung function that may occur later leading to morbidity and mortality.