Pulmonary ventilatory function values for healthy men aged 45 years and over.

Pulmonary ventilatory function of 2,684 Israeli men aged 45 years and above having no abnormalities that might hamper the pulmonary function were analyzed according to various age and height groups. Analysis included forced vital capacity (FVC), forced expiratory volume in the first second (FEV 1 ) and the ratio of FEV 1 to FVC. The results indicated that the FVC and FEV 1 of the same age group increase significantly with increase in height, while within the same height group, those values decrease significantly with increase in age. This pattern holds true among all the areas of birth. Based on these results normal values of pulmonary ventilatory function for men aged 45 years and above are presented. To the best of our knowledge previous nomograms for this age group are based on a markedly smaller number of examinees. Higher lung capacities and smaller degree of airway obstruction are reflected by our data compared with those published previously.