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A Comparison of Vital Capacity Values with Healthy Subjects in Standing and Head-Down Positions

Body position is known to have an effect on vital capacity(VC). The purpose of this study was to examine effect on VC of posture, sex and smoking, and the difference between predicted and measured values of VC. VC was measured in the standing and the 30° head-down position in 40 healthy subjects (20 men and 20 women) in a random order of testing. When subjects changed from standing to head-down position, this VC decreased by 19.9%. In both positions, VC changes in men were significantly larger than in women. No statistically significant difference was found in men who smoked. There was no difference between the predicted and measured values in men. But measured values were larger than predicted values in women. Because VC can decrease by 19.9% in the head-down position due to the effect of gravity, attention should be paid especially to patients who are placed in the head-down position for postural drainage since they already have a decreased VC.