Ewa Rębacz-Maron

The multi-ethnic global lung initiative 2012 and Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey reference values do not reflect spirometric measurements in Black boys and men from Tanzania.

The interpretation of spirometric results of Black Africans according to reference standards based on data from outside their native environment may lead to the wrong conclusions. This article aims to characterize the ventilatory capacity of boys and men from Tanzania according to forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1), forced vital capacity (FVC), peak expiratory flow (PEF) and FEV1/FVC based on the collected anthropological material and to compare them to NHANES III, Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES III) African American predicted values and GLI2012 equations. The analysis included spirometric measurements of n = 295 participants from Tanzania. Pearsons correlation analysis and the backward stepwise multiple regression analysis were performed. FEV1, FVC, PEF and FEV1/FVC results were compared to the NHANES III African American predicted values as well as to the GLI2012 equations. FEV1 measurements are lower than the reference values according to NHANES III and GLI2012 equations by 22·1% and 25·8%. FVC results fell short of the NHANES III predicted by 29·5% and of GLI2012 by 32·5%. The average %FEV1/FVC scores for the boys and men exceeded the recommended GLI2012 predicted by 10·5–15·2%. All the spirometric measurements included in the analysis were statistically significantly correlated with age, body height, sitting height, trunk length and body weight. The application of prediction formulae developed for non‐African populations overestimates the values for Black Africans. The results of spirometric measurements are ecosensitive and dependent on various external (environmental) factors.

Spirometry results (FEV1 and FVC) in young Bantu men from Tanzania vs environmental and family characteristics

Abstract Objectives: The aim of this paper was to examine the extent to which socioeconomic factors, anthropological data and somatic indices influenced the results of spirometric measurements (FEV1 and FVC) in Tanzanian youth. Materials and methods: The population studied were young black Bantu men aged 12.8–24.0 years. Analysis was performed for the whole data set (n = 255), as well as separately for two age groups: under 17.5 years (n = 168) and 17.5 + (n = 87). A backward stepwise multiple regression analysis was performed for FEV1 and FVC as dependent variables on socioeconomic and anthropometric data. Results: Multiple regression analysis for the whole group revealed that the socioeconomic and anthropometric data under analysis accounted for 38% of the variation in FEV1. In addition the analysis demonstrated that 34% of the variation in FVC could be accounted for by the variables used in the regression. A significant impact in explaining the variability of FVC was exhibited by the thorax mobility, financial situation of the participants and Pignet-Verwaecka Index. Conclusion: Analysis of the data indicates the significant role of selected socio-economic factors on the development of the biological specimens investigated. There were no perceptible pathologies, and the results can be treated as a credible interpretation of the influence exerted by the environment in which the teenagers under study grew up.

The influence of the place of residence, smoking and alcohol consumption on bone mineral content in the facial skeleton

BACKGROUND Environmental factors exert their influence on the living organism throughout ontogeny. More and more often, researchers find correlations between specific environmental factors and the so-called diseases of affluence. Deficits and excess of essential elements also leave their mark on the skeleton. AIM To investigate the influence of alcohol consumption, tobacco smoking and place of residence, according to sex and calendar age, on the concentrations of micro-, macro- and toxic elements in human facial bones. MATERIAL & METHODS Patients undergoing surgical treatment were examined for the mineral content in the collected bone material. The bone contents of the following elements were determined: Ca, K, Mg, Na, P, Fe, Zn, Mo, Ba, Mn, Li, Be, Co, B, Sr, Cr, Pb, Cd, Ni, and Al, depending on the type of facial bone, sex, calendar age, alcohol consumption, tobacco smoking and place of residence. RESULTS Sex and alcohol consumption showed the highest degree of correlation with the content of the minerals included in the study. Alcohol drinking was found to exert the strongest influence on womens bodies, the highest number of statistically significant correlations was demonstrated between the content of minerals in the examined bones and alcohol drinking in women. Other factors included in the analysis had a different impact on men and women, the concentrations of elements included in the study differed depending on age, tobacco smoking and place of residence. CONCLUSIONS The observed differences in the element mineral composition of the human facial skeleton may be explained by developmental specifics and functional adaptation. However, general biological characteristics (sex, age), environmental factors (place of residence), as well as smoking and alcohol use may exert significant influence on the concentrations of micro-, macro- and toxic elements in particular regions of the human skeleton. The impact of environmental factors is a very complex phenomenon, which may be stronger or more subtle, leaving its mark on the bone structure. The environmental factors included in the analysis had a different influence on men than women.