Centre for Policy on Ageing



The threshold for sensing airflow resistance during tidal breathing rises in old age — implications for elderly patients with obstructive airways diseases
Author(s)	Stephen C Allen, Michael Vassallo, Ahmed Khattab
Journal title	Age and Ageing, vol 38, no 5, September 2009
Pages	pp 548-552
Source	http://www.ageing.oxfordjournals.org
Keywords	Respiratory systems ; Respiratory tract diseases ; Measurement ; Cross sectional surveys.
Annotation	The aim of this cross-sectional study was to determine whether the ability of older subjects to detect a rise in airflow resistance is attenuated in old age and to measure the magnitude and variability of such a change. The authors studied 124 healthy adults aged 20-86. Progressive external airflow resistance loading was used to measure the inspiratory and respiratory load detection thresholds (LDTs) during vital breathing at rest. The study found that the threshold for detecting external resistive loads during tidal breathing rises in old age. This appears to be a consequence of ageing processes rather than pathology, and might be a manifestation of a fall in proprioceptive acuity in older people. This finding has clinical implications for the self-management of asthma in old age. There is a need to conduct a similar study in patients with airways disease. (RH).
Accession Number	CPA-091207208 A
Classmark	BKC: CN: 3R: 3KB
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing

...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing.