A Comparison of Objective and Subjective Measures of Respiration in Healthy Adults

Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate the gender and age effect on lung function measures and maximum phonation time in the age range of 20-60 years. The present study also aimed to evaluate correlation between FEV1 and maximum phonation time. Study Design: Cross- sectional study, Convenience sampling method Method: The lung function measures (FVC, FEV1, & FEV1/FVC) and maximum phonation time were obtained from 200 healthy participants in the age range of 20-60 years. These participants were divided into two groups (Group I - 20- 40 years & Group II - 41- 60 years) with equal number of males and females in each group. The lung function measures were obtained using Easy on PC spirometer. Three consecutive trials were collected for MPT using stopwatch. Mann- Whitney U test was used to determine effect of age and gender on lung function measures and MPD. Spearman's Rank Correlations were performed to identify is there any significant relationships between the FEV1 and MPT of /a/, /i/, /u/, /s/, and /z/. Results: There were significant effect of gender on FVC, FEV1, & MPT except on FEV1/FVC. There was significant effect of age in both genders on FVC, FEV1, & FEV1/FVC. There was no significant effect of age in both genders on MPT /i/, /u/, /s/, and /z/ except MPT /a/ for males. FEV1 showed significant positive correlation with MPD (/a/, /i/, /u/, /s/, and /z/). Conclusions: The mean FVC and FEV1 were lower in females and higher in males in both the age groups. Maximum phonation time of /a/, /i/, /u/, /s/, and /z/ was longer in males as compared to female. Age has inverse effect on lung function measure and MPT. FEV1 showed positive correlation with MPT, which indicates that FEV1 increases with increase in MPT. Key words: Maximum Phonation Time, Lung Function Measures.