Improving rates of decline in FEV1 in young adults with cystic fibrosis

Chengli Que ¹, Paul Cullinan ¹ and Duncan Geddes ^1*

¹ Royal Brompton Hospital, London, United Kingdom

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: d.geddes{at}rbh.nthames.nhs.uk.

Accepted 21 November 2005

Abstract

In order to determine temporal patterns in the rate of lung function decline in CF patients, we examined annual changes in FEV1 and FVC between the ages of 18 and 22 for patients born in five consecutive birth cohorts. Three hundred and eighteen patients attending a specialist clinic with at least two routine measurements of lung function in separate years were included; and their declines in lung function estimated using linear regression. The mean (se) slopes for FEV1 and FVC were -1.53% (0.36) and -1.27% (0.34) respectively. The annual deterioration in FEV1 was -2.49%, -1.99% -2.20%, -1.65%, and -0.65% from the earliest to the most recent birth cohort; a similar pattern was observed for changes in FVC. There were no differences between male and female patients. Patients with Pseudomonas colonization had a greater average decline in FEV1 (-1.6% vs. -1.1%). In conclusion, the rates of decline of lung function in patients with CF have diminished with successive birth cohorts. This has important implications for the design of clinical studies in this disease.

Keywords: FEV1decline, cystic fibrosis

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