Cigarette smoking results in the accumulation of iron both systemically and locally, in the lung thereby causing imbalance in iron homeostasis. This disruption in iron homeostasis can be associated with oxidative stress and consequent tissue injury. Therefore, in this study, we tested the association between iron homeostasis and airway obstruction by examining a large cohort of smokers and non-...

I would like to thank Pedone et al 1 for their recent article in CHEST (April 2012). The article presented data on the association between pulmonary restriction, properly defi ned as having a total lung capacity (TLC) below the fi fth percentile of the reference population (lower limit of normal [LLN]), and all-cause mortality. As the authors correctly pointed out, defi ning restriction as FVC ...

OBJECTIVE To investigate the presence of airway obstruction by determining the FEV1/FVC and FEV1/slow vital capacity (SVC) ratios. METHODS This was a quantitative, retrospective cross-sectional study. The sample comprised 1,084 individuals who underwent spirometry and plethysmography in a central hospital in Lisbon, Portugal. The study sample was stratified into six groups, by pulmonary funct...

It is common practice to use a forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV(1))/ forced vital capacity (FVC) ratio of <70% as evidence of airflow obstruction. As the FEV(1)/FVC ratio falls with age, the lower limit of normal range (LLN), defined as the bottom 5% in a health reference population, of FEV(1)/FVC ratio has been suggested as a better index to reduce over-diagnosis of chronic obstruct...

BACKGROUND We hypothesized that fibrinogen, as a marker of chronic inflammation, is inversely associated with forced vital capacity (FVC) and forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV(1)) in healthy persons. METHODS The CARDIA cohort started in 1985 and included black and white men and women, aged 18-30, from the general population. Spirometry testing conducted at years 5 and 10 [FVC, FEV(1), and ...