Spirometry is used to determine what is "unusual" lung function compared with what is "usual" for healthy non-smokers. This study aimed to investigate regional variation in the forced vital capacity (FVC) and in the forced expiratory volume in one second to FVC ratio (FEV1/FVC) using cross-sectional data from all 41 sites of the multinational Burden of Obstructive Lung Disease study. Participants (5,368 men; 9,...
Smoking is the most well-established cause of chronic airflow obstruction (CAO) but particulate air pollution and poverty have also been implicated. We regressed the sex-specific prevalence of CAO from 41 Burden of Obstructive Lung Disease study sites against smoking prevalence from the same study, the gross national income per capita, and the local annual mean level of ambient particulate matter (PM2.5) using ...