Effects of smoking and longevity of parents on lung function in the apparently healty elderly.

The assessment of the effects of smoking and longevity of parents on lung function in the elderly was carried out in a large sample of men (559) and women (1073) in Cracow. The lung function indices decreased linearly with age both in men and women. The mean levels of forced vital capacity (FVC) in the elderly males from long-lived parents were higher by about 400 ml and of forced expiratory volume in 1 sec (FEV1) were higher by 330 ml in comparison to subjects of shorter-lived parents. No similar differences in elderly women have been found. The data showed that active smoking affected lung function into advanced old age and that its effect was similar in both men and women. It was found that a history of chronic cough was not related to the impairment of lung function after inclusion of smoking status in the multiple regression models.