Chronic Hypoxia Accentuates Dysanaptic Lung Growth.

Rationale: Adults born and raised at high altitudes have larger lung volumes and greater pulmonary diffusion capacity compared with adults at low altitude; however, it remains unclear whether the air and tissue volumes have comparable increases and whether there is a difference in airway size.

Objectives: To assess the effect of chronic hypoxia on lung growth using in vivo high-resolution computed tomography measurements.

Methods: Healthy adults born and raised at moderate altitude (2,000 m above sea level; n = 19) and at low altitude (400 m above sea level; n = 23) underwent high-resolution computed tomography.

Development of a simple binary response questionnaire to identify airflow obstruction in a smoking population in Argentina.

The CODE questionnaire (COPD detection questionnaire), a simple, binary response scale (yes/no), screening questionnaire, was developed for the identification of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). We conducted a survey of 468 subjects with a smoking history in 10 public hospitals in Argentina. Patients with a previous diagnosis of COPD, asthma and other respiratory illness were excluded.