I can conclude from my results that males have larger FEV1 and FVC average values than females, which shows that males have on average larger diameter around the chest and hence they have larger lungs than females.

• Has unstable angina.
• Had a recent heart attack or stroke.
• Has coughed up blood recently and the cause is not known.
• Had an eye or abdominal surgery recently.

Method

1. While standing, slot in the mouth piece into the spirometer holder.
2. Breathe in fully and then seal lips around the mouth piece of the spirometer.
3.  Hold the nose so no air escapes from the nose.
4. Blow out as fast and as far as possible until the lungs are completely empty, this may take a couple of seconds. Then breathe in fully immediately.

Results

My results

Males

Females

Discussion

My predicted values for FVC, FEV1, FEV1% and PEF are 5.09L, 4.31L, 82.7% and 9.82L/s respectively. My actual results show that I have much lower results than predicted. The percentage predicted clearly shows that I am at a risk of having a lung disease as the percentage predicted for FVC and FEV1 are below 80%. This may be due to the time (e.g. had lunch before doing the experiment etc.) or I did not blow fully or may be I have a lung disease which I am unaware of.

From my results it shows that I have combined obstructive (narrowed airways) and restrictive (damaged lung tissue) pattern. This is because I have lower FEV1 and FVC values than predicted.

Due to the lack of time, I did not collect the predicted results of the students in my group, therefore it very difficult to compare students of the same gender together and to predict if they have lung diseases or not. Also it is difficult to who is normal and not normal.

I can compare males and females of their actual results and I can indicate that males FVC and FEV1 values are greater than female values. The average values for the FVC and FEV1 for males are 4.09L and 3.91L respectively. Females’ average values for FVC and FEV1 are 3.47L and 3.36L respectively. As shown in the tables males are larger in size than females with an average of 175.5cm and 160.6cm respectively. All this indicates that males have larger lung capacity and therefore can breathe out fully faster and longer.

For people who have COPD, FEV1 is used to determine the severity of the disease, “with less than 70% considered mild and less than 35% considered severe”. Therefore spirometer is a great tool used to detect the severity of COPD in a patient, and so through the results obtained, it allows the doctor to give the patient the right treatments.

Conclusion

I can conclude from my results that males have larger FEV1 and FVC average values than females, which shows that males have on average larger diameter around the chest and hence they have larger lungs than females.

I believe that my results are not very accurate as only one result was obtained per person, due to the lack of time. A good result would need to have at least three readings for a more precise conclusion of the person’s health and whether he or she has any disease or not.

Reference

• http://www.nationalasthma.org.au/publications/spiro/
• http://www.priory.com/med/spiromet.htm

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