Background and objective: Respiratory muscle pressures have been gaining increasing interest because of prognostic value. The study aim was to acquire reference values for respiratory pressures in a large-scale population-based survey--the Study of Health in Pomerania (SHIP).
Methods: One thousand eight hundred and nine participants (885 men) of a cross-sectional epidemiologic survey, called 'Study of Health in Pomerania--SHIP', underwent lung function and respiratory muscle pressure measurements. After excluding individuals with cardiopulmonary disorders, prediction equations for men and women were established by quantile regression analysis.
Results: The final study population comprised 912 individuals (432 men), aged 25-80 years. The study provides a representative set of sex-specific prediction equations of respiratory muscle strength. Respiratory pressures are decreasing with age and are lower in women when compared to men.
Conclusions: Prediction equations for relevant respiratory pressures are given. Based on this well-described population-based survey with extensive cardiopulmonary investigations to exclude relevant interfering disorders a sufficient comprehensive set of reference values was obtained.
© 2010 The Authors. Clinical Physiology and Functional Imaging © 2010 Scandinavian Society of Clinical Physiology and Nuclear Medicine.