Ventilatory function in normal Nigerian school children.

Lung function studies were performed on 522 school children in Ibadan to determine normal values among Nigerian School children. From four schools 257 boys and 265 girls aged 7 - 18 with different socio-economic background were selected. The forced vital capacity (FVC) and forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1) wee estimated using the wedge bellows vitalograph. It was observed from the results that the mean FVC and FEV1, values were lower than the predicted mean values matched for age, sex, height and weight. It was further observed that the values obtained were lower than those of the caucasian children. However, it was observed that the FVC values correlate significantly with age, weight and height (P less than 0.01).