Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40090022›Full record

ArticleDiving and hyperbaric medicine2025

Divers with large or normal lungs: is the difference justified?

Pieter-Jan Am van Ooij, Robert A van Hulst

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Diving and hyperbaric medicine, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

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0citing papers in PubMed
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1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

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2 · The registry

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3 · Its place in the literature

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4 · The record

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5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

2 authors.

Pieter-Jan Am van OoijDiving Medical Centre, Royal Netherlands Navy, Den Helder, the Netherlands.
Robert A van HulstDepartment of Anesthesiology and Hyperbaric Medicine, Amsterdam University Medical Centre (AUMC), University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Introduction: Measurements of forced vital capacity (FVC) have shown that divers have larger lungs than members of the general population. Bullae or decompression illness (DCI) secondary to pulmonary barotrauma is more likely to occur in large lungs (LLs) than in normal lungs (NLs). This study retrospectively compared lung function, high-resolution CT (HRCT) scan anomalies, the unfit-to-dive rate, and the prevalence of DCI in groups of divers with LLs and NLs. Methods: The results of fitness examinations of divers with LLs (FVC z-score > 1.96) and NLs (FVC z-score ≤ 1.96) from 2011 to 2020 were retrospectively evaluated. Data were obtained from lung function tests, HRCT results, fitness examination outcomes, and whether the diver did or did not have DCI. Results: The study included 1,069 divers, with 65 subjects, all male, fulfilling the requirements for LLs. Subjects with LLs had a significantly higher z-scores for FVC and FEV1 but a significantly lower FEV1/FVC ratio, than subjects with NLs. The rates of bullae, DCI, and unfit-to-dive did not differ significantly in the two groups. Conclusions: Although FEV1/FVC ratio was significantly lower in the LL than in the NL group, there were no between-group differences in the rates of bullae and DCI. These findings suggest that subjects with LLs are not at a higher risk of bullae and DCI than are subjects with NLs.

Indexed as

Decompression SicknessDivingLungAdultBarotraumaBlisterForced Expiratory VolumeHumansMaleMiddle AgedOrgan SizeRespiratory Function TestsRetrospective StudiesTomography, X-Ray ComputedVital CapacityFitness to diveLung functionMedical conditions and problemsMilitary divingPulmonary barotraumaRisk factors

Identifiers

PMID40090022
PMCPMC12263281

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.