Upper and Lower Airway Dysanapsis and Airflow Obstruction Among Older Adults

The conduit to this is the human airway tree. exchange and is anatomically divisible! )' according to their position in relation to the vocal chords into the upper and lower airways. Although they are joined in series, the upper and lower airways have different embryologic programs, with the former primarily emerging from the pharyngeal arches and the latter from the ventral primitive toregut. Dysanapsis is the term for an anthropometric mismatch between the size of the airways and the size of the lungs, which was first inferred from the interindividual variation of maximum expiratory airflow among healthy adults and hypothesized to be a risk factor for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in general. Using computed tomography (CI), dysanapsis of the lower airway from the trachea to terminal bronchioles has been shown in the general population and is related with COPD among adults.