J Korean Acad Rehabil Med.  2003 Aug;27(4):519-523.

Pulmonary Function in Cervical Spinal Cord Injured Men: Influence of Age and Height

• Shin HI
• Lee BS
• Yoo TW
• Jang SJ

Abstract

OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the influences of age and height on pulmonary function in cervical spinal cord injury patients and to suggest the reference value of Pulmonary Function Test (PFT) with respect to each level of injury. METHOD: One hundred eighteen subjects with complete cervical spinal cord injury underwent PFT. Forced Vital Capacity (FVC) and Forced Expiratory Volume in 1 second (FEV1) were measured and percentages of normal predictive values were also calculated. RESULTS: Age, height and injury level were determinants of FVC and FEV1. But only injury level affected the percen-tages of FVC and FEV1 predictive values. The mean FVC of C4, C5, C6, C7, C8 tetraplegic subjects were 1.78 L, 2.00 L, 2.20 L, 2.74 L, 2.94 L respectively. The mean FEV1 of C4, C5, C6, C7, C8 tetraplegic subjects were 1.64 L, 1.83 L, 2.08 L, 2.59 L, 2.74 L respectively. CONCLUSION: Age and height should be considered when interpreting PFT of tetraplegic patients. The reference values suggested would help to evaluate the severity of pulmonary function loss in complete cervical spinal cord injury patients.

Keyword

Tetraplegia; Pulmonary function; Age; Height

MeSH Terms

Forced Expiratory Volume
Humans
Male
Quadriplegia
Reference Values
Respiratory Function Tests
Spinal Cord Injuries
Spinal Cord*
Vital Capacity