[Age related spirometric changes in diabetic patients].

Background: Pulmonary volumes and expiratory flows progressively decline during aging, and some studies suggest that such decline is steeper among diabetic people.

Objective: To evaluate if diabetes mellitus (DM) accelerates the decline of pulmonary function occurring with aging.

Methods: A spirometric study was carried out in type-2 DM outpatients attending the family physician office, as well as in a control group of nondiabetic subjects.

Results: 144 type-2 DM patients (30-78 years old) and 139 nondiabetic subjects (31-78 years old) were studied. From all spirometric variables, only the forced vital capacity (FVC) and the forced expiratory volume at one second (FEV1) were significantly lower in diabetic patients (p < 0.001). Multiple regression analysis corroborated that age and DM were associated with a lower pulmonary function, ruling out the influence of tobacco habit and body mass index. Nevertheless, the analysis of covariance showed that slopes of regression lines (age vs. spirometric variable) were not different between both groups.

Conclusions: Diabetic patients had lower values of FVC and FEV1, as compared with nondiabetic subjects. However, the rate at which pulmonary function declined through age was similar in both groups.