Prediction of Pulmonary Residual Volume from Anthropometric Measurements in Caucasian Male Adults

The purpose of the present study was to derive regression equation based on anthropometric measurements to estimate pulmonary residual volume (RV) and to ascertain its applicability in calculation of body density (BD). Subjects were 30 males living in Santa Barbara, California, USA, ranging in age from 20 to 52 years. Nine anthropometric measuretnents, actual RV, vital capacity (VC), and BD using the conventional underwater weighing method were made on each subject. Four measurements (age, height, biiliac diameter, and chest diameter) were selected by Wherry-Doolittle test selection method. The resulting formula using these measurements was as follows : RV = 38.89(X1) + 30.43(X2) - 12.43(X3) + 10.70(X4) - 4573.4 (R = 0.832, SEE= 251.9ml) where RV : predicted RV (ml). X1 : age (years), X2 : height (cm), X3 : billiac diameter (mm), X4 : chest diameter (mm), R: multiple correlation coefficient. SEE : standard error of estimation. When this formula was used to calculate RV, mean absolute difference between BDS obtained by using the actual and the predicted RVs was 0.0033lg/cm3. On the other hand, the absolute differences using the formula of Goldman and Becklake, fraction of VC (24%), and the constant value (1300ml) were 0.00477g/cm3, 0.00763g/cm3, and 0.00787glcm3 respectively. It was concluded that using the formula obtained in the present study to predict RV would be a useful method in the situation where mass managements were neccesary and more precise measurements were required than the other simplified estimations. Thus in predicting RV our formula could reduce the extent of the potential error largely as compared with the other predictions. Additionally it does not require special knowledge, technique, and devices.