PEFR and its determinants in a healthy population aged 65 years
*Parminder Kaur, *Dimple Arora and **J. K. Dhillon
*Department of Physiology, Sri Guru Ram Das Institute of Medical Sciences and Research, Sri Amritsar (India) **Department of Physiology, Government Medical College, Patiala (India) email: sandhugillp@rediffmail.com
ABSTRACT
Peak expiratory flow rate (PEFR) is a measure of ventilatory capacity measured by peak flow meter. It varies in different age, sex, height, ethnic groups and is affected by the disease process. The purpose of this study was to establish the normal PEFR values for elderly males and females to establish local reference standards. The study included 95 males and 67 females aged 65 years selected randomly following strict inclusion and exclusion criteria. PEFR was measured by mini Wright peak flow meter. The mean PEFR in the age group of 65-74 years for males was 336.74 + 52.24 lit/min and for females was 253 + 39.49 lit/min. The correlation of PEFR was negative and highly significant with age, positive and significant with height and non-significant with weight, Body Mass Index (BMI) and Body Surface Area (BSA). It was concluded that with advancing age, PEFR declines. Mean PEFR values when compared among males and females, were found to be higher in males than in females. The mean PEFR values of taller subjects were also higher in both males and females.