Static pressure-volume characteristics of lungs in normal males

The static pressure-volume characteristics of the lungs were determined in 28 normal males between the ages of 21 and 76 years. Transpulmonary pressures were measured in relation to absolute lung volumes throughout the entire range of the vital capacity, both on inspiration and expiration. There was an increase in residual volume and a decrease in vital capacity, but no change in the slope or position of the pressure-volume curve with advancing age. It appeared that the older subjects were unable to change transpulmonary pressure between residual volume and total lung capacity to the same extent as the younger subjects. The results suggest that with advancing age there is little change in the intrinsic static pressure-volume characteristics of the lungs themselves, and that all of the significant changes with age are more likely due to changes in either the compliance or muscle power of the thorax. Submitted on December 24, 1959