Large lungs may predict increased air trapping in navy divers
Tomi Wuorimaa1,2, Jari Haukka3, Janne Tikkinen1
1Diving Medical Centre, Centre for Military Medicine, Upinniemi, Finland.
Physiological Reports
|February 25, 2022
Summary
Finnish Navy divers exhibit larger lung volumes than non-divers. While air trapping wasn't directly higher, large lung volumes correlated with air trapping, potentially impacting diver health.
Area of Science:
- Pulmonary Physiology
- Occupational Health
- Diving Medicine
Background:
- Navy divers often present with large lung volumes and diminished terminal expiratory flow rates.
- Understanding lung function adaptations and potential risks in divers is crucial for their health and performance.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate air trapping, airway obstruction, and functional airway compression in Finnish Navy divers.
- To assess the association between these pulmonary parameters and lung volumes in divers.
Main Methods:
- Pulmonary function tests were conducted on 57 Navy divers and 10 non-diving controls.
- Air trapping was quantified by subtracting helium dilution total lung capacity (TLC) from body plethysmography TLC (TLCb).
- Linear regression models with Davies test were used to identify breakpoints between trapped air and pulmonary parameters.
Main Results:
- Divers demonstrated significantly larger vital capacity (VC) and TLCb compared to controls.
- No significant difference in the absolute amount of trapped air was found between groups.
- Large lung volumes (VC >7.31 L) were associated with air trapping, and significant air trapping (>1.1 L) correlated with increased residual volume (RV) and RV/TLCb.
Conclusions:
- Navy divers possess larger lung volumes than non-diving individuals.
- Elevated lung volumes in divers are linked to air trapping, which may have implications despite the absence of overt obstruction.
- Slowly ventilated trapped air could pose a disadvantage for navy divers.
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