Pulmonary function in former alcoholics

Pulmonary function was evaluated in 44 former alcoholics (abstinence, 0.5 to 32 years) without cardiac or specific pulmonary disease. All were members of Alcoholics Anonymous. Fourteen subjects (32 percent) were non-smokers, ex-smokers, and cigar or pipe smokers, yet 28 subjects (64 percent) had abnormal expiratory flow rates, and 17 (39 percent) had an elevated value for the ratio of the residual volume to the total lung capacity. Single-breath diffusing capacity was abnormal in seven subjects (16 percent). Of interest was the high incidence (77 percent) of obstructive phenomena among the women. This high incidence of abnormalities among both the men and women could not be attributed to previous pulmonary infection or smoking. Comparison of these patients with chronic alcoholics suggests that the obstructive component in these patients is, in part, a result of their past alcoholic intake and that it is not reversed by abstinence. On the other hand, the impairment in diffusion, which was so common in alcoholics, appears to be reversible with sobriety.