[Examinations of the pulmonary function of untrained and physically trained old men (author's transl)]

In tests there were determined the vital capacity and absolute and relative seconds capacity of 180 physical-trained sportsmen aged 55 to 89 and of 175 untrained, but clinically healthy test persons. The results of the different age-intervals are compared statistically. It was noticed, that vital capacity and absolute seconds-capacity of both groups decrease statistically significant with the age. Vital capacity and seconds capacity are in all age-intervals on a higher level with the trained sportsmen than the control group. The relative seconds-capacity showed no significant difference between the two groups. There is a clear statistic connexion between the vital capacity and the time obtained in a 5 000 meters run. One can suppose that in contrast to juvenile sportsmen a good pulmonary function is a contributory determinant of the performance of old sportsmen.